


The One Scepter

by ProbablytherealDeaththeKid



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Addiction, Depression, Gen, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Mind Manipulation, POV First Person, POV Loki (Marvel), References to Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 33,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23023018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProbablytherealDeaththeKid/pseuds/ProbablytherealDeaththeKid
Summary: This is the story of Loki and both how and why he tried to take over the world.
Comments: 24
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So SparkleForever/FelineGood has made more cover art! Here's the link to the piece of Deviant Art!
> 
> https://www.deviantart.com/sparkleforever/art/The-One-Scepter-Cover-Art-Speed-Drawing-840697334
> 
> They also made a speed drawing video of them making it on YouTube, so feel free to check that out!

“I could have done it, Father! I could have done it!” I shouted over the deafening boom of the breaking Bifrost. “For you! For all of us!”

I gripped the staff in Thor’s hand as tightly as I could, but my hand was quickly slipping down the slick metal. 

I stared up at Father clinging to Thor on the cracked Bridge. He held onto his son like they were each others’ life forces. “No, Loki,” he muttered, his sound so low that I almost couldn’t hear it.

I suppose that’s it, then. He woke himself from Odinsleep to save Thor. Not me. He never cared what I might have thought about the fact that I wasn’t his blood. He kept me out of selfishness and spite against the Frost Giants. Both Odin and Thor had sworn to hunt down and slay all Frost Giants.

Frost Giants like me.

I glanced down at the void below my feet. It sucked in boulders and metal fragments from the Bifrost, taking them away to who-knows-where.

I destroyed it. I destroyed the Bifrost and nearly destroyed Jotunheim.

It would be better to fall. Fall for a few moments and either die or end up somewhere different.

I looked back up at Thor and found that his eyes were rimmed with red. I hurt him. 

“Loki, no!” he shouted.

It would be better to fall. Get out of his way and not live with a family who wanted to kill me. 

I let my aching hand loosen, the blood rushing back to my fingertips. The slick metal quickly slid passed, and I fell.

“No! Loki!” It was Thor shouting. His call echoed more and more as I fell further and further away from him.

I shut my eyes against his sound. This was better, right? 

Something impacted my side, making me gasp as a sharp pain sliced through me. I snapped my eyes open and found that I was caught up in the stream of debris flying through the void. Shattered stone and broken metal flew towards me from every direction possible. I dodged every way I could, ducking and turning as I glided through the stream, but there wasn’t much I could do. Every way I turned, there was already something there.

Stone and golden metal hit me again and again, making every part of me ache and hurt ten times worse than I already was. Debris flew into me, impacting my chest, my shoulder, my stomach. Each hit pushed the air from my lungs. I couldn’t breathe.

A dark spot appeared in the distance, taking in everything. The stone, the metal, the light. The spot grew rapidly until it swallowed me up, spitting me out into nothing. It was colder than Jotunheim, and my form quickly shifted from Asgardian to Frost Giant to accommodate it, but I couldn’t take in any air. There was no air. I gasped and gasped for breath, but no oxygen came to relieve my aching lungs. It was too cold for even a Jotun like me, and the lack of air made it worse. My eyes slipped closed and I gladly let them. I lost myself inside of my own mind, images and feelings racing towards me faster and faster.

* * *

_“The day will come when one of you will need to defend that peace.”_

_“When I’m king, I will hunt the monsters down and slay them all!”_

_“A wise king must never seek out war, but he must always be ready for it.”_

_“Loki! Now, that was just a waste of good wine.”_

_“It’s just a bit of fun….I am jealous at times, but never doubt that I love you.”_

_“Why? B-because I’m the monster who parents tell their children about at night?...Laufey’s son?...So I-I’m just another stolen relic to be locked away until you have use of me?...You favoured Thor all these years!...You could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the throne of Asgard!”_

_“I never get used to seeing him like this.”_

_“Until Odin awakens, you are now king.”_

_“Can I come home?”_

_“I will not fight you, Brother!”_

_“I am not your brother. I never was.”_

_“Loki, this is madness!”_

_“I never wanted the throne! I only ever wanted to be your equal!...Brother, please….If you destroy that Bridge, you’ll never see her again!”_

_“No, Loki.”_

* * *

I gasped as my eyes flew open. It was warm again. A little too warm, actually. I could breathe. But where was I?

I glanced around and found a darkened stone room but nothing else. I was lying on a cushioned bed, and it looked like I was being held in a cave, but it was too dark to tell anything else.

I tried to sit up to get my bearings, but something on my face tugged me back down. I reached up and came into contact with a tube that was blowing oxygen into my nose. I grabbed hold of it and carefully pulled it forward and lifted it over my head, letting it drop onto the stone floor. I sat up fully, my lungs seizing and making me cough. I covered my mouth with my hand, and pulled it away once the coughing finally stopped. Drops of blood were splattered across my palm. 

I moved to wipe the blood off on my trousers, but a sharp pain in the crook of my elbow made me hiss. A needle was stuck into my vein, and the tube led to an bag hanging off of one of the rocky shelves, filled with some kind of clear, intravenous solution.

“I wouldn’t pull that out if I was you,” a deep, gravelly voice cautioned as I took hold of the needle. “You have been unconscious for days. That needle is the only thing that has been giving you nutrients.”

I slowly let the needle go, but I wasn’t sure if I could trust a voice without a face. “Would you care to show yourself?” I requested.

A figure came out of one of the darkened corners of the cave. It was so heavily clothed that I couldn’t tell if it was male of female. A black hood concealed the top of it’s head, and a twisted metal cage circled around its jaw, slithering up its face and disappearing under the hood. “I have many names, but you may call me by my most common one: the Other,” the figure introduced.

It was a ridiculous name, but it was a bad idea to mention it. “And how did I get here?” I voiced, aiming to learn anything this Other was willing to tell me and perhaps a few things he wasn’t.

“We found you floating in space in a field of debris,” the Other explained coming a few steps closer to the bed I was on. “We pulled you into our ship and found that you were, miraculously, still alive but only just. We warmed you up and helped you breathe again. Then we brought you here.”

“And where is here?” I pressed.

“Somewhere that will be revealed in time,” the Other answered, striding away from me and towards a wall of bars that were stuck in the ground. “But for now, rest. Regain your strength.” The Other opened the cell door and stepped out, locking it behind him. He disappeared down a darkened hall that joined the jagged, circular cavern out of the cell, and he didn't return. 

* * *

I didn’t know how long had passed, but it had to be at least a few days. Over a week maybe. Someone who looked to be the same race as the Other brought me meals and gradually took me off of the IV. I regathered my strength and kept myself as healthy as I could, but I was still aching from falling through that void. My broken rib was slowly mending, and I gradually stopped coughing up blood, but I doubted that it would ever heal completely due to the apparently limited medical supplies they had here. Breathing grew easier, and I could walk around without a problem. 

Though I was getting better, my sleep was restless. I kept dreaming of when I fell. The moment I let go revisited me again and again. The look on Thor’s face is what kept me awake. The way he screamed for me sounded so broken. 

I hurt Thor terribly when I sent the Destroyer after him while he was on Earth and when I held the Bifrost on Jotunheim, nearly destroying it, but I couldn’t see another choice. My first act as temporary king wasn’t going to be undoing Odin’s last, and I thought that destroying that desolate, icy land would do them both proud. Both of them did swear to be rid of the entire race of Frost Giants.

I couldn’t help but wonder if Thor was okay. He had to be. I was out of his way. I was one less Frost Giant he had to destroy. 

I knew that if I concentrated on Thor long enough, I would be able to contact him with the magic that our mother taught me, but I couldn’t risk him seeing me. If he saw me, I might as well have never let go at all. Thor had friends when he was on Earth. Those three people who fought with him against the Destroyer. I didn’t hear their names, but I didn’t need those to find them. If they were alright, Thor must be.

I leaned back into the jagged rock wall and closed my eyes, concentrating on the brief memories that I had of Thor’s three Midgardian friends. The dark-haired one with the strange hat and glasses appeared first along with the woman Thor was in love with. They were having dinner in a small garage filled with their Midgardian technology. They talked and ate and joked like everything was normal. She was alright, so Thor had to be satisfied, at least, but he wouldn’t be happy unless the other one was healthy, too. 

I shifted my focus to the aged man that fought with them, and he appeared before me in a darkened, narrow hall accompanied by a tall, one-eyed man with dark skin and a long black coat. Thor’s friend leaned forward and looked into a small case that shone with a pale blue light. 

I looked inside the case and found a blue cube with a white-ish light that shone from the inside. I remembered enough of my studies to recognise the Tesseract instantly, but how could they find it? Wasn’t it lost to the sea?

“Well, I suppose that’s worth a look,” I muttered.

Thor’s friend nodded with my statement. “Well, I suppose that’s worth a look,” he repeated.

A hand flew across my cheek, leaving it stinging and hot. The image of the narrow hall and the two men disappeared in a flash of green and gold light, sending me back to the cave I was locked into. 

The Other had returned, and he stood above me, his caged mouth curved upwards in a twisted snarl of a smirk. “You found it,” he hissed.

“Found what?” I denied, matching his tone.

“The Tesseract.”

“What’s a Tesseract?” I wondered, feigning ignorance. He needed the Tesseract for something, and if I was a good enough actor, he might tell me why.

“Don’t play dumb, _Odinson,_ ” the Other countered, enunciating my name unnecessarily harshly. “He figured that if anyone would be able to find the Tesseract, it would be you.”

“Whose ‘he’?” I questioned.

“Do you want to know?”

“I’d rather know than not,” I answered. I needed to know who was holding me captive. If I knew that, I would be better able to discern his weaknesses and get out, though I had no idea where I’d go.

“Then get up,” the Other instructed, grabbing the tough, leather front of my tunic and pulling me to my feet.

The Other turned his back to me and marched out of the cell, and I followed close behind. The moment I stepped out of the cell, I was grabbed from behind. My hands were forced behind my back, though I fought against whoever was restraining me. A darkened hood was draped over my head, and then my hands were released. 

My hand was grabbed again, and whoever was holding me tugged me forward, leading me through a hundred different twists and turns. We went left, right, left and left again. I tried to count my steps so that when I escaped, I’d be able to find my way out again, but there were too many too keep track of. A thousand steps one way, ten a different way, then fifty another.

The one who was pulling me along suddenly stopped, making me run into him or her. 

“Hold still, Odinson,” the Other’s distinctive voice ordered. 

The black hood was ripped off of my head and my hand was released. “Why, exactly, was that necessary?” I questioned, trying to get more information out of him, but he wasn’t very forthcoming.

“He wants to keep you here for now,” the Other answered, his voice sharp as a knife.

“And I ask again,” I said, matching his tone, “where is _here_ , and who is _he_?”

A guttural cackle rang through the air. It took all I had not to jump. I looked up and found a enormous man with violet skin and golden armour. He sat in his throne, floating above us.

“The ‘he’ the Other speaks of is me,” he said, his deep voice rumbling through me. “Thanos.”


	2. Chapter 2

“I’m sure you would like to know why you’re here,” Thanos said with a voice that shook the rocky ground, “and the answer is simple: you are very powerful, Asgardian.”  Part of me wanted to correct him--I’m not Asgardian. Odin had proved that well enough--but I held my tongue.  “The Earth is playing host to several gems called Infinity Stones, and I am in the midst of collecting them. Do you know what Infinity Stones can do?”

“They’re immensely powerful objects that give the user authority over a certain aspect of reality,” I answered, playing along as I tried to figure this Thanos out.

I’ve never seen or heard of him before. He had control of the Other and most likely armies of people like him. He already seemed powerful, so why would he need the Infinity Gems?

“Precisely,” Thanos congratulated, leaning forward slightly in his floating throne. “I have located and obtained one of the Infinity Stones, but many still remain on the planet Earth. With your abilities, I will be able to gain the power of the Gems that reside on Earth rather than bury them under a pile of rubble.”

Pile of rubble? He wants to invade Earth? Thor cared for those three he left on Midgard more than for me (it was part of the reason I let go). If Midgard was taken, it would break Thor’s heart.  If Thanos was asking for my help to invade Earth, I wouldn’t give it to him. It might not stop him, but it would delay him and maybe even give off warning signs that Thor or Heimdall could identify.  “No,” I said firmly, smoothing my expression and lifting my chin. 

Thanos leaned back into his chair again. “I thought you’d want to,” he muttered as the Other slunk between two columns of stone and disappeared into the shadows. “After everything that happened to you anyways. A father and brother who betrayed you, the homeland of your heritage nearly destroyed...you have nowhere else to go.”  Negotiation tactics that fed off of emotion. It was simple enough to identify and fight if you kept yourself neutral, but that didn’t mean his words didn’t strike a chord.  “But I’m sure you’ll change your mind,” Thanos assured, the Other coming back into the light with a gold and silver scepter. The Other took a step towards me, brandishing the pointed scepter, but Thanos held up a hand. “Though, admittedly, I’d rather that you decided for yourself. It would be easier.”

Thanos lowered his hand, and the Other continued forward, extending the scepter until the sharp, glimmering tip touched my chest, a bright golden light emitting from the shining gem in the blade. 

I gasped at the rush. Whatever was inside that scepter had immeasurable power, and it invaded every part of me. It took my mind and rearranged it in a way that made me feel simultaneously exhausted and alive, sending waves of almost unbearable bliss and thrill rocketing through me as I was pulled into a dream.

* * *

_ “You don’t have to worry about me, Brother,” I assured. “I will no longer be in your way.” _

_ “What are you talking about? We're never in each other’s way,” Thor contradicted. “We are brothers and therefore equals. Now, put your book down, cease your complaining and come join us on the field. We were going to have a horse race. Last one to the edge of Asgard has to clean the stables. You in? The only rule would be 'No teleporting’.” _

_ I smiled and marked my page, placing the book down on the table. “It sounds like it will be fun.” _

_ “Excellent!” Thor shouted, racing up from the sofa and out the door. After a moment, he poked his head through the doorway again. “You are coming, aren’t you?” _

_ I nodded and stood in answer. Thor took off down the hall again, and I had to jog to catch up. We ran all the way through the palace and out to the field where Lady Sif and the others already waited with horses prepared. _

_ “There you are!” Fandral called. “We’ve been waiting for you for ages.” _

_ “Well, I had to get Loki, didn’t I?” Thor dismissed as he mounted one of the horses. _

_ “Either way, it took you forever,” Siff countered, climbing atop her own horse. _

_ We all mounted our horses and kicked them forward. We raced through the streets, blasting by other Asgardians as they went about their daily activities. The others quickly disappeared from sight as Thor and I pulled ahead. _ _ Thor inched ahead of me, and I was about to kick my horse faster when I remembered a shortcut near where we were. I spotted the path, tugged my horse down it and dug my heels into its side. The animal whined before taking off, leaving clouds of dust behind.  _

_ The buildings grew smaller and far between, and grass was gradually coming into sight. It wasn't long before my charging horse reached it and the ocean that marked edge of Asgard came into view. I pulled back on the horse's reins, forcing it to slow to a halt.  _ _ I turned the animal around and watched Thor’s small form quickly grow until he caught up with me.  _

_ “How’d you get here so fast?” he questioned, his voice slightly higher than normal. _

_ I shrugged casually. “You said I couldn't teleport, and I didn't. Just took a shortcut.” _

_ “You’ll have to teach me that one day,” Thor insisted as he dismounted. _

_ I followed his lead as the others finally appeared in the distance, each coming into the field one by one. _

_ “Guess that means Volstagg cleaning the stables,” Siff laughed, earning a dramatic groan from our slow-moving friend. _

* * *

“Wake up,” a distant voice ordered, but I ignored it.

The dream was already fading as I slowly woke, but I strained to keep it. It was the best dream I’ve had in a while, so I wasn’t going to give it up without a fight. 

A sharp kick to my stomach made my eyes finally snap open as my torso throbbed dully, making my still-healing rib ache. 

I found the Other standing above me with a metal tray. “You can dream again later,” he assured as he dropped the tray on the cold, stone ground next to me. “But for now, you need to eat.” The Other turned his back to me and started to walk out of the cell they were keeping me in, but he froze at the barred door. “That is  _ if _ you want to dream again.” The Other opened the cell door and banged it shut behind him, walking down one of the adjoining tunnels.

After a moment, I managed to force myself to sit up, but the world tilted when I did, nearly sending me back to the ground. I leaned forward and put my head in my hands, holding it until the world settled back down. 

I glanced down to the tray and the meal that the Other had brought me, if it could be called a meal. It was a meager slice of bread, a cup of broth and a small, tin cup of water. Thor could eat an entire calf by himself--I’ve seen him do it--and I’ve never had his appetite, but even I needed to have more than this for it to be considered a meal.

My stomach grumbled and forced me to pick up the slice of bread and tear a piece off. I popped it into my mouth and swallowed it, but my stomach lurched so sharply that bile rose into my mouth. I instantly leaned over and spat the acidic liquid out, the piece of bread I had chewed coming up with it. My stomach heaved of its own accord, and I threw up whatever else I had inside of me until I was left retching with nothing coming up, waves of dull pain radiating through me.

What did they do to me? The Other touched me with that Scepter, and now I can’t eat, I’m dizzy, and throwing up.  Sweat dripped down my nose and onto the floor. It was unbearably hot in here. It was always hot in here, but it seems even worse now.

The power of that scepter was dangerous, and I never wanted it to touch me again.

But it also gave me that dream. It felt...good, and I know it shouldn’t.


	3. Chapter 3

Several days passed before I could eat without throwing up. I forced myself to stand, pace my cell, keep my strength up, but it was more than difficult. The effects of that scepter had left me drained somehow, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

The rush, and the dream. They were the best things I’ve ever felt.

The door to my cell clanged open, and I instantly turned to find the Other stalking forward with a guard behind him. He lifted the scepter and planted it onto the stone ground, a golden light flashing from the gem inside of it. “Do you want to dream?” he wondered.

The sight of the Scepter nearly pulled me forward. It took all I had to stay where I was. Every part of me said yes, said that I wanted nothing more than to dream that everything was back to normal again. 

But it wasn’t. I had let go of the staff. Thor and the entirety of Asgard think I’m dead. Nothing could erase the pain in Thor’s eyes as I let go. Not even a dream.

“Dreams do not replace reality,” I answered, squaring my shoulders as I clasped my hands together behind my back. “When are you letting me out of here, exactly? I have refused you and your Thanos. I am of no use to you if you keep me here.”

“You are exactly where we need you to be,” the Other responded as he took a few steps closer to me, the staff in hand. “And whether you want to or not, you are going to dream again.”

The Other lifted the sharp scepter and thrust the blade towards me. I took and instant step backwards, the scepter missing me by centimeters. 

The Other froze for a moment before coming after me again. I turned to the side, and dodged the sharp tip of the scepter.

The Other was about to come for me a third time, and I was prepared to dodge. But as the scepter flew towards me, I was grabbed from behind. The hands of the guard were like steel manacles keeping me in place. The tip of the Scepter touched my chest, and the same exhausting, exciting rush blew through me, making every part of me tense, but after a second, every muscle relaxed as the rush faded to bliss, and I was pulled into another dream.

* * *

_ “Loki, no!” he shouted. _

_ It would be better to fall. Get out of his way and not live with a family who wanted to kill me.  _

_ I let my aching hand loosen, the blood rushing back to my fingertips. The slick metal quickly slid passed, but before I could fall, Thor released the staff and grabbed my hand with both of his.  _

_ What was he doing? Why wasn’t he letting me fall? _

_ Thor grunted with effort as he pulled me up, dragging me back onto the cracked Bridge.  _

_ “What are you doing?” I harshly questioned. _

_ “I don’t want you to die, Loki,” Thor responded, grasping my shoulder. _

_ “Why not?” I gasped. “You’ll have to kill me, anyways. Wasn’t it you who swore to hunt down and slay all Frost Giants?” _

_ “But you’re not--” _

_ “Yes, he is,” Odin voiced, cutting off Thor’s statement. “Loki is a Frost Giant. I found him as a baby, abandoned in Jotunheim. I should have told you both sooner. I am sorry.” _

_ Thor glanced between us for a moment before a shadow eclipsed him. We all looked up and found a large piece of Bifrost debris careening towards us. _

_ I instantly put my hands up, sending a spray of ice that encased the metal and pushed it back a little.  _ _ Thor held his hand out, and his Hammer instantly flew into his open palm. He spun Miljoner faster and faster before letting it go. The Hammer flew towards the metal I had iced and shattered it into pieces above us. The debris rained down around us, cracking the Bridge further, but we were unharmed.  _

_ Thor took one look at me, and his eyes widened with both fear and shock. I glanced down at my hand and found that it had turned to the dark blue of a Frost Giant. The skin ridges on my forearm stood out like whitened scars, but they quickly faded away as my Asgardian form reasserted itself. _

_ I looked back to Thor and found that he was still staring at me. I couldn’t tell if he was disgusted like he should be or simply shocked.  _

_ Thor swallowed deeply before smiling softly. “You don’t have to be ashamed, Brother. The red eyes are a bit off-putting, but it’s who you are. We need to both accept that.” _

_ He still thought of me as his brother after all of this? _

_ Thor took hold of my upper arm and pulled me up from the ground, Odin following. They both took me back to the castle, and because Odin had woken up, the title of king was transferred back to him. The reason Thor was banished was because Odin was trying to teach him a lesson that he had apparently learned, so Odin officially welcomed Thor back into Asgard, and everything returned to normal. _

_ The palace was kept slightly colder than it was in the past, and that gave me a level of energy that I only had during battles in Jotunheim. My mother and Thor didn’t treat me any differently, even after Odin stepped down. Thor kept me close, and I was his advisor in many strategies for battle. _

* * *

The hardness of the stone floor gradually wormed its way into my consciousness and woke me from the dream. For a moment, I thought the dream was real, but the sight of the familiar dark room and rough stone walls quickly reminded me that it wasn’t. 

It wasn’t real. I had let go, and Thor didn’t catch me. I was in this cell. Not in Asgard. I was trapped here with Thanos, the Other and that scepter. 

I was so tired. My entire being ached like Thor was beating me with his Hammer, and my head pulsed with each of my pounding heartbeats. 

The cell door clanged open, and that probably meant that the Other had come back, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I was too exhausted to care.

“Before you go back to sleep,” someone said--a quick glance up let me know that it was one of the guards rather than the Other, “you need to eat.”

The guard gently placed the metal tray on the floor before leaving the cell, the door slamming shut. I glanced towards the tray and found that it was the same food as from yesterday. If the last time they gave me food was yesterday. 

How long have I spent here? Weeks, months? There was no way to tell time here. No clocks or even a sun--or at least, not one that I’ve seen. And where even was here? They still haven’t told me, and it didn’t look like they were going to.

It didn’t matter. I let my eyes close and drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

* * *

More and more time passed, and though my broken rib from falling through the void had mostly healed, my physical state continued to deteriorate. Everything I ate, I threw up at one point or the other, and even when I didn’t eat, I still threw up. I couldn’t bring myself to eat or drink anything, though I knew I should, and it seemed to grow continually hotter in the cavern, which lessened my appetite even more.

The Other visited me again and again, bringing that Scepter with him each time. It gave me such pleasant dreams, but they were still wrong. There was something about them that was strange. 

Eventually, there came a point where I was too exhausted to stand. The Other continued to come by and touch the Scepter to my chest, and I didn’t fight him anymore. Everything hurt so terribly, but the power in that Scepter made me feel better. It was only temporary, and I was left even worse than before, but I’d rather dream for a few hours than to be ravaged by this constant, sickly aching that burned throughout my whole body without end. It gave me such dreams. New worlds, old knowledge that I doubted even Odin knew of. But it also let me simply spend a few hours in quiet darkness if I wanted.

* * *

_ Planet Earth had knelt before me, and I stood above it with the Scepter in hand. Everything was as it should be. Thor and Odin had both acknowledged my power, and Thor had begged for the return of Earth, though I continually refused him. Thor’s lover resided on this planet, and the planet was mine. He could never see her again. _

_ Nothing could hurt Thor more: to watch his lover grow old and die without being able to touch her, talk with her, anything. I was always in his shadow, but now he was in mine. _

_ Thor was in pain, and by extension, so was Odin. It was petty and perhaps a little immature, but I had an army that no one could fight. No one would stand in my way any longer. _

* * *

I forced myself to wake up from the power-hungry dream. I would be lying if I said it didn’t make me feel good, but it was still unexpected. It was entirely different from the dreams the Scepter usually gave me--though come to think of it, the dreams have been turning darker. They had gradually changed from being on Thor’s right hand while he was king to being king myself. 

And this wasn’t the first time I had dreamed of an army that wasn’t Asgardian. “What army?” I muttered aloud.

“The Chitauri,” a voice said. I jumped at the sudden sound, sending waves of dull pain coursing through me. “The army was the Chitauri.” A hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me up from the ground and roughly slammed my back into the sharp stone wall. I hissed at the pain of it, but I forced myself to open my eyes and look up, finding the Other. “They can get us both what we want. But only if you accept.”

I vaguely remembered that Thanos had wanted me to go to Earth and hunt down the Infinity Gems for him and I had said no, but I couldn’t remember why I had refused. Something about Thor. 

“Take time to decide,” the Other ordered, walking out of the cell again. 

My stomach grumbled and sent sharp waves of pain throughout my torso. I hissed at the pain and put a hand to my stomach, trying to quell the pain. I needed to eat, but everything I ate I threw up again and again. 

I needed that Scepter. It was the only thing that made everything better. I wasn’t in any pain when it touched me.

But the only way I could get it is to agree to what Thanos wanted me to do. I didn’t want to be under anyone’s thumb, but I would be whether I stayed here in this cell or did what he wanted. I could always wait here for the Other’s frequent visits where he gave me what I needed, but it was always taken away again. I always woke up, and the blissful rush was always forced away. If I agreed, I would have to take the Earth, and the six billion people there would likely die.

But I would have the Scepter.

Like in my dream, Thor’s lover girl would be stuck on her planet, and Thor wouldn’t be able to help her. He never treated me like a brother anyway. He only ever held himself above me and everyone else, and Odin helped him up. They probably both wanted me dead. Odin did come to save Thor, after all. Nothing would hurt Thor more than to see his woman surrounded by death at every turn and be unable to jump into the fray, and nothing would grieve Odin more than to see his favourite son hurt.

* * *

The Other came back into my cell with the Scepter in hand, and the pleasant thought came that he was here to make me dream again.  “Have you decided?” the Other demanded, making my heart sink in disappointment.

I needed that Scepter, but what exactly did Thanos want me to do? I couldn’t plunge into this head first without thinking. I wasn’t Thor. “What exactly would agreeing entail?”

The Other’s mouth twitched up into some dark form of a smirk. He turned his hooded head towards the cell door and waved two guards forward. 

The guards marched into the cell and moved to either side of me. They both grabbed my upper arms and pulled me up from the ground. They didn’t bother with the black head covering this time and dragged me from the cell. If it weren’t for the guards, I probably wouldn’t have been able to walk out of there. Even with their support, I was still unsteady and stumbling.

They led me to the same cavern where I met Thanos the first time, and he still sat in his floating throne like he hadn’t moved.

“So you’ve decided,” Thanos stated, his deep voice rumbling the earth.

“Just want to know what you exactly want me to do,” I corrected in as strong of a voice as I could manage. 

Thanos threw his head back and laughed loudly. “I want to find the Infinity Gems. The Chitauri want the Earth to expand their empire, and you want to spite your brother and father.” 

I bit my tongue to keep myself from correcting him. Odin is not my father. He never was.

“I know the location of one of the Stones on Midgard: the Space Stone. Though some call it the Tesseract,” Thanos continued. “You can use that to open a portal and bring the Chitauri to Earth. They can raze it, drawing out the Stones and whoever has them. We can take the Stones, the Chitauri level the Earth, and you’d be above it all.”

Asgardians and Frost Giants were over humans in rank because of our longer lifespan, physical and mental capabilities and magic, but I didn’t necessarily care if I ruled the Earth or not. It would spite Thor and anger Odin if I did.

“Other,” Thanos commanded, raising a hand.

The Other passed the Scepter up to Thanos, and he took it into his hand, its size elongating until it was proportional to his girth. Thanos cupped the stone inside the Scepter for a moment, turning its golden light to a cold blue before handing it back down to the Other.

The two guards let me go, and I nearly fell without their support. I somehow managed to keep myself upright as the Other approached me with the shrunken Scepter in hand. He turned it to the side and offered it to me with both hands.

After a brief moment of debating whether it was a trap or not, I slowly reached for it. The moment I grasped the staff of the Scepter, I was filled with the energy I had lost here. The familiar rush of both bliss and excitement coursed through my veins like it never had before. 

“Use it to help you in your task,” Thanos instructed. “It will enable you to communicate with both us and the Chitauri. It contains the Infinity Stone of the Mind, and the blue covering will conceal its presence from the humans. The Tesseract has been prepared with enough energy for a one way trip to Earth.”

As if on cue, a bright, blue light shone next to us, though it somehow didn’t surprise me. The Scepter made everything slightly distant, like the only thing that really mattered was the energy and power it had. 

I glanced at the blue light and watched as it parted like a curtain, revealing a room that looked like a Midgardian laboratory. 

“When you’re ready, Son of Odin,” Thanos voiced.

Stepping through meant that I would have to destroy over six billion lives.

But I had the Scepter now. I could get Thor and Odin back for everything they put me through. 

With a short, preparatory breath, I stepped forward and was pulled in through the open portal.


	4. Chapter 4

The portal sent out a blast of energy that knocked the humans to their knees as I stepped through. The blue light and energy gradually dissipated, fully revealing the white and silver Midgardian lab. The portal sealed shut behind me, and as I looked up, I spotted the glowing blue cube of the Tesseract.

It was cool here. It made me feel stronger, and I was glad to leave the oppressive heat of the cavern behind.

“Sir!” a voice called. I glanced around for the source of the voice and found the same tall, dark, one-eyed man that had talked with Thor’s friend. “Please put down the spear!”

Spear? What spear?

I glanced down at the pointed Scepter in my hand. From his distance, it must look very much like a spear, but it wasn’t. It was much more than that. 

I glanced back up and found that some of the humans had been slowly inching towards me, their weapons held at the ready. The Scepter told me that if I concentrated, I could get rid of them, blast them out of my way so that I could get to work.

I focused on the Scepter and the Stone inside. I drew its energy to the surface and forced it out, sending a large and powerful blast towards them. The blast hit one of their computers, and the humans opened fire with their weapons. The Scepter protected me from their bullets as I launched myself towards them. I knocked one to the ground, and more bullets flew towards me from behind. I used my own magic and summoned three daggers, throwing them at the human guards. The knives struck the three of them in the throat, and they stopped firing, collapsing to the floor.

Another bullet hit the Scepter. 

Why were they aiming for the Gem? If they broke it, I wouldn’t be able to have it.

I took aim towards the collection of humans that shot at me and sent another blast of the Stonen’s energy towards them.

Several managed to dodge the shot, and another charged towards me. I brought my foot up and kicked him squarely in the chest, throwing him into a wall. The breaking of his spine could be heard even from where I stood.

I looked around for a moment, taking in what I had done. What the Scepter had done. It was unbelievable. The power it had was immeasurable.

But I couldn’t take it in for too long. I had a job to do, and I couldn’t do it alone. 

One of the men had started to get up, and I rushed towards him. He was the one who had shot the Scepter. I grabbed his wrist as he got up, dragging him towards me. He struggled, straining to lift his gun. A brave one.

“You have heart,” I muttered.

The Scepter whispered to me, saying that I if I needed his help and unwavering loyalty, I could have it.

I brought the Scepter up and touched the tip of it to his chest. The blue light of the Scepter intensified, extending into him. I briefly saw into his mind as the Scepter did its job. His name was Clint Barton and he had a wife and children and was unmatched in skill with archery. Barton’s eyes turned black for a moment before it faded into the same bright blue the Stone of the Scepter currently held. 

Barton looked back up at me and relaxed. I released his wrist, and he took a step back, holstering his gun. 

It had worked. The Scepter was always right. The calming and electrifying power of the Gem raced through me all the more. 

I needed more. More of the power in the Scepter and more people to help me. 

I rushed off and found another man in a suit and did as the Scepter instructed, placing the sharpened tip of the Scepter to his chest. The man’s eyes changed to black, then blue, before I took the Scepter away from him.

Footsteps sounded behind me, and I turned to find the one-eyed man sneaking away with a silver case. 

_ “The Tesseract is in there,”  _ the Scepter whispered.

“Please don’t,” I asked, making the dark-skinned man freeze in place. “I still need that.”

“This doesn’t have to get any messier,” he assured.

“Of course it does,” I countered. “I’ve come too far for anything else.” The man turned and stared at me intensely. “I am Loki. Of Asgard,” I introduced. “And I am burdened with glorious purpose.”

“Loki?” a familiar voice called. “Brother of Thor?”

I turned to find Thor’s friend getting up from the floor.

Was I really to go down in history as just “the Brother of Thor”? I couldn’t have that. Especially since I’m not his brother at all.

“We have no quarrel with your people,” the one-eyed man said, holding up a gloved hand. 

As they shouldn’t. “An ant, has no quarrel with a boot,” I agreed.

The man stood there for a moment before lowering his hand. “Are you planning to step on us?”

For once, I didn’t have a response. The energy of the Scepter was making my thoughts so scrambled. I wasn’t  _ planning _ to crush them, but with the Chitauri, that might happen anyways. Luckily--despite my current lack of eloquence--the Scepter was there to supply me with speech.  “I come with glad tidings,” I voiced, repeating what the Scepter whispered as I took steps closer to Thor’s friend, “of a world made free.”

“Free from what?” the one-eyed man asked.

“Freedom,” I readily answered, the Scepter’s words coming into my mind faster and faster until I could barely distinguish them from my own. “Freedom is life’s great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart,” I spun around and placed the tip of the Scepter over the heart of Thor’s friend. His eyes turned black then bright blue as he also fell to the Scepter’s power. Professor Erik Selvig was his name, and he was a skilled scientist. “You will know peace,” I finished as he relaxed.

I, above all people, knew how they were feeling right now. It was a wonderful dream, but unlike them, I was in control.

“Yeah, you say peace,” the dark-skinned man said, “I kinda think you mean the other thing.”

“Sir,” Barton called, marching up to me, “Director Fury is stalling.” Fury? A fitting name for the little I knew about this one-eyed man. “This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us.” I glanced up at the rolling blue light above Director Fury. It burst and clicked like rushing ocean water. “He means to bury us.”

“Like the pharaohs of old,” Fury confirmed.

“He’s right,” Selvig called, gesturing the the computer screen that proved Barton’s theory. “The portal is collapsing in on itself. We’ve got maybe two minutes before this goes critical.”

“Well, then,” I muttered, turning to Barton and mentally ordering him to get us out of here.

Clint lifted his gun and took a deafening shot towards Fury, hitting him in the shoulder. Fury cried out as he fell to the floor and dropped the silver case that contained the Tesseract.  I ordered Selvig to pick it up as I followed Barton out of the lab and down the hall. 

My steps were still so unsteady, and I didn’t understand why. I have the Scepter now. Why am I still stumbling?  A sudden pang from my stomach made me nearly fall over. I groaned and almost stopped walking, but one of the men that the Scepter was controlling put a hand on my back and steadied me, pushing me forward again.

I let the Scepter take whoever it thought would be useful. Guards, scientists, telling them to keep up appearances and meet up with us later.

Barton led us through a pair of automatic doors and into a stone garage. “I need these vehicles,” he announced as we passed a dark-haired woman.

Clint gestured to one of them and waved us in. I gladly climbed into the open back--nearly collapsed into it--suddenly exhausted. When I was let out of the cell, I thought it would be wonderful to finally walk around in an open space, but it was much more of a relief to sit down. 

“Who is that?” the dark-haired woman questioned.

“They didn’t tell me,” Barton answered as he moved towards the front of the vehicle.

The stone of the garage cracked, sending a spray of pebbles down to the floor and letting in freezing cold air. The cooler temperature made my exhaustion dissipate a little, but not enough.

_ “Hill!” _ a filtered voice called.  _ “Do you copy?”  _ Fury.  _ “Barton has turned.” _

Clint instantly turned around and drew his gun, firing off a shot that Hill managed to dodge. Barton ducked into the vehicle as he fired off another shot. He slammed the door shut and ignited the engine, taking us far away from Hill.

Another vehicle followed us as Hill came out of her hiding place and returned fire, but we were moving too fast for her to hit. We tore through the pathways of the garage, vehicle after vehicle appearing and following close behind us. 

I took aim with the Scepter and willed a blast of energy to land on the middle vehicle, throwing it off of it’s wheels. It was sent up the wall until it rolled and landed on its back, blocking the rest of the oncoming vehicles. But one crashed into it, pushing it forward with determination to catch up with us. 

The foundation of the entire building trembled as another armoured vehicle pulled out in front of us. Its tires skid as the vehicle flipped around. I could see enough to recognise the driver as Hill as she came straight for us. The fronts of our vehicles crashed together, but Barton managed to push her back. They both pulled out their weapons and fired towards one another as Barton drove both of us forward.  Clint suddenly pushed us faster and made our vehicle drift to and fro until Hill’s released us. We pulled ahead of her, and she was left behind, straining to catch up.

_ “The energy from the Tesseract is about to explode,” _ the Scepter whispered.

We needed to go faster. I couldn’t talk to Barton while he was inside of the vehicle, but I mentally urged him to take us faster as a sudden blast of invisible energy waved over us. The whole building shook violently, cracks appearing in the stone and spider-webbing across the ceiling. Boulders soon tumbled from the broken walls and blocked the path behind us, cutting Hill’s chase short.

Barton drove us through the exit of the the laboratory, and we were released into the middle of the desert night. Another Midgardian transport hovered above us. The door was thrown open, and Fury was leaning out. He drew his gun and fired on Barton and Selvig.  I took aim with the Scepter and blasted it from the sky with its energy. The transport sparked, and fire spewed from the engine as it crashed to the ground. Fury jumped from the open door and fired on us as we made it to the road, but we were too distant and moving too quickly for him to hit us.

Using the energy from the Scepter had eased some of my constant aching. It wasn’t gone entirely, but it would disappear with time. Probably.

Barton took us far away from the collapsed facility. We drove until the sun came up and a few hours into the morning. Two other vehicles appeared from the distance and drove alongside us. A quick glance through the windows told me that they were filled with the other people that the Scepter took over.

It took all I had to stay awake, and the unbearable heat from the desert sun made it even more difficult. The power of the Scepter was keeping me strong, but I couldn’t go on like this forever. My body will give out if I don’t eat or sleep soon.

I slumped down in the bed of the vehicle and let my heavy eyes close for a moment or two. Barton or someone else will tell me when we get there, but I can’t fall asleep. Not until Barton took us to wherever he had in mind. 

“Are you alright, sir?” Selvig wondered, shouting over the engine noise.

I cracked my eyes open and glanced at him leaning out of the window. “Yes, I’m fine,” I assured.

“I don’t mean to be rude, sir,” Selvig countered, “but you don’t look it.”

Why did he care? He was being controlled by the Scepter now. Shouldn’t he not care about anything except what he was ordered to do?  Maybe the Scepter didn’t break you but simply change your loyalties. Changed your mind but not who you are.

“Forgive my impertinence, sir, but you look very sick,” Selvig added.

I did? I haven’t seen myself since before Odin fell into Odinsleep. I hadn’t dared to look in the mirror since my skin turned blue.

A sharp and sudden ache from my stomach made me gasp and lean forward, grabbing my torso to try to quell the pain. 

“Sir!” Selvig shouted. “Barton, stop the car!”

I wanted to tell them no, to keep going, but I couldn’t. I was too exhausted. 

The car jerked to a stop and Selvig bolted out of the cabin and jumped up to me. He shook my shoulder gently, getting me to look up at him. “When did you last eat, sir?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I croaked, my dry throat burning as I spoke.

“I know where we can go,” Barton voiced as he leaned out of the open window of the driver’s side. “It’s close to here. It’s an underground warehouse, basically. I never told SHIELD about it. It has some food and water stocked, and there’s enough layers of protection to keep them from detecting the Tesseract.”

I nodded in answer. It didn’t matter where we went as long as I could get out of this oppressive desert heat and find a place to rest.  Barton ducked back into the car and reached over to the passenger side, closing Selvig’s door. He started the car back up and took off, sending a spray of sand and rocks out behind us.

“I’m not  _ that _ kind of doctor,” Selvig cautioned, “but I would still want you to eat and rest soon, sir.”

I nodded again, not having the energy to talk. 


	5. Chapter 5

Barton directed the vehicle around a rocky hill covered in sand and into the shade. It was still boiling, but it was better than being in the sun. He deactivated the car and got out of the cab, crossing the sand to the base of the hill. He wiped sand off of a disguised keypad and imputed a code. A jarring buzz sounded, and a concealed door popped open. Clint turned back to us and waited by the open door with his arms crossed.

The other scientists and guards the Scepter took over stepped out of the cars one by one, and Selvig got to his feet. “Do you think you can stand, sir?”

I was so weak that I was shaking, but I gripped the Scepter tighter and used it like a walking stick. I planted the end of it in the ground and leaned my weight into it as I stood. The world tilted briefly, nearly sending me back down to the bed of the car, but Selvig caught my arm. 

“Be careful, sir,” he requested as he helped me down from the back of the car. “We’re almost there.”

Selvig led me inside the open door, and Barton closed it behind us. We went down a sloping tunnel that opened up into a large room that had several doors on some of the walls as well as computers and servers. 

“There’s a fridge down there,” Barton informed, gesturing to one of the doors on our right, “and a bed in there.” He indicated the door directly in front of us. 

“Sir,” another voice called. I looked up to find one of the scientists that that Scepter took. “What would you like us to do with the Tesseract?” He held up the silver case.

“Study it,” I breathed. “Figure out exactly how it works so that we can use it.”

Another pang from my stomach accompanied by a wave of almost unbearable exhaustion nearly threw me to the floor. If it wasn’t for Selvig, I probably would have fallen.

Selvig suddenly dragged me through one of the doors that Barton had indicated, and into a small kitchenette. “Please sit down, sir,” Selvig requested, something akin to pleading in his voice.

I practically fell into one of the chairs at the table while Selvig ran to one of the cabinets. I understood that I was weak because I hadn’t slept properly or eaten anything for an unknown amount of time, but I should be a bit stronger, shouldn’t I? The air was cooler, and I had the Scepter, so why did I feel like I was dying?

Selvig returned with three small, rectangular packages and offered them to me. Was it food? I might have been better than Thor at schooling, but that didn’t mean I knew everything about Midgard and its traditions.

“I know you’re not from Earth,” Selvig voiced, taking a seat opposite me. “I have met your brother, Thor, so I know that you might not know what these are,” he held up the packages, “but they’re protein bars. They’ll replenish your energy.”

Selvig placed the three packages on the table, and I slowly reached out a shaking hand, taking one. I ripped the thin, plastic covering open and discovered a sticky bar made up of what looked like honey, oats and nuts. I took a cautious bite of it and found it to be edible. More than edible. As soon as the taste of the nuts and honey hit my tongue, it was gone, my stomach clawing for the next. I knew I was hungry in the cell, but I didn’t register just how much until now. How long  _ has _ it been since I had last eaten?

It only took a moment for the three protein bars to be consumed, and my thirst sprang to the forefront of my mind. Selvig seemed to already know what I was thinking and rushed off, returning with a filled glass of water. I took it from him an chugged it down, instantly feeling better. 

But now I was even more exhausted than before. With my hunger and thirst taken care of, I could barely keep my eyes open. 

“Will you rest in the bed, sir?” Selvig wondered, looking at me with worry.

I barely had the energy to nod, but the moment I did, Selvig was at my side and taking my arm. I allowed him to help me up and guide me back through the door to the main room where the others were already setting up a makeshift lab under Barton’s direction. 

Selvig opened the door to the bedroom and took me inside. I fell onto the bed and instantly closed my eyes. I faintly heard the door click closed, and I drifted off to sleep soon after that. I was so tired that I didn’t dream. It was the best sleep I’ve had since I fell through the void, though it somehow wasn’t as good as the dreams that the Scepter induced. 

I managed to wake hours later. The Scepter was still gripped in my hand. Good. I couldn’t let it out of my sight. Not unless I needed to.

A commotion sounded outside, and I instantly stood, my heart racing as thoughts of the Other came to mind. The glowing Stone in the Scepter brightened, its power rushing through me. My heart calmed with its aid, and I was able to relax.

I moved to the door and opened it, guards running by. The lab outside surprised me. It was large and looked almost professional. Selvig was studying the Tesseract in a plastic bubble with several computers, lights and other scientists.

“Sir,” Clint’s voice greeted. I turned to him and found him approaching me, a gun in his holster. “Have you recovered? You were asleep for almost a full day.”

“I’m better than before,” I muttered, fully stepping out of the room and letting the door fall shut behind me.

“I hope you don’t mind, sir, but the others who had managed to salvage materials from the collapsed lab brought them here and set up what they could,” Barton explained, gesturing to the makeshift laboratory before us.

“Any progress?” I asked as I started to circle the lab in the middle of the room, studying the set up.

“So far we haven’t discovered anything new,” Barton answered. “The Cube is an energy source and a gateway across space that has a behavior of its own.”

“You haven’t figured out how to open it yet?”

“Not yet, sir, but we’re working on it.”

I sighed in disappointment. If I couldn't get that gate open, the Chitauri wouldn’t be able to come and take the Earth, and I wouldn’t find the Gems.

“Keep going,” I ordered, walking off into a far corner to observe them as they worked.

I lowered myself onto the dirty concrete floor and watched them. Selvig went around and around, looking at the Tesseract from every angle possible as it rested in its holster. Guards ran throughout the whole warehouse, checking and rechecking the perimeter and everywhere else for intruders.

The Scepter’s gem suddenly glowed brightly, leaving me breathless as its power wormed its way into my mind. I closed my eyes as it pulled me to a place that looked like a different part of the caverns I was kept in.

The Other appeared in the distance, standing amongst stacks of stone. “The Chitauri grow restless,” he growled.

“Let them gird themselves,” I returned, walking up to him. “I will lead them in the glorious battle.”

“Battle?” the Other spat as he slipped through the rock formations. “Against the meager might of Earth?”

“Glorious, not lengthy,” I corrected. Humans are weak and primitive. They are beginning to take their place in the universe, but they were nowhere near ready. “If your force is as formidable as you claim.”

I hadn’t met the Chitauri yet. I had no idea what to expect of them. I only had the word of the Other and Thanos, and that wasn’t enough to get me to trust them.

“You question us?” the Other demanded, his gravelly voice almost sounding shocked. “You question him. He who put the Scepter in your hand?”

The Scepter. Thanos did give it to me. He could take it away if I didn’t do what he wanted me to. 

The Other continued, “Who gave you ancient knowledge and a new purpose when you were cast out? Defeated.”

“I was a king! The rightful king of Asgard,” I interrupted. The throne of Asgard was mine until Thor showed back up and woke Odin. “Betrayed.” My heart sank as I thought of all that Thor had done, but I kept the emotion out of my expression.

The Other seathed. “Your ambition is little and born of childish need.”

I turned from him and his words. This wasn’t childish. I was reclaiming what was rightfully mine.

“We look beyond the Earth to the greater worlds the Tesseract will unveil,” the Other voiced, his words filled with longing as he looked up the stairs to where Thanos must wait.

“You don’t have the Tesseract yet,” I reminded. It was currently mine, and once I figured out how to use it properly, who said that I had to give it to him?

The Other gave off a deep, guttural growl before rushing towards me with his hand outstretched. 

“Oh, don’t threaten,” I cautioned as I placed the Scepter between us. I had both the Scepter and my magic. I was more powerful than him. “Until I open the doors, until your force is mine to command, you are but words.”

“You will have your war, Asgardian,” the Other assured, slowly lowering his hand. “If you fail,” he took a few steps closer to me, crossing behind me, “if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no  _ crevice  _ where he cannot find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something sweet as pain.”

The Other’s hand touched my cheek, and he roughly shoved me away. In a flash of light, I was put back into myself and into the underground warehouse Barton had led us to.

My heart was hammering inside of me, beating so hard that it threatened to break through. When I was in the cell, I was in so much pain. I was exhausted, and I couldn’t eat or sleep, and the terrible heat there made it worse. The Scepter was the only thing that helped, and even then…

Thanos gave me the Scepter. He could take it away. I felt like I was dying before I had it. Maybe I was, but I’m not now. I didn’t know if my body would be able to support itself without the Scepter. 

“Sir,” a woman’s voice called. I looked up to find on of the military personnel the Scepter took standing over me. “Are you alright?”

I nodded and waved her off. She quickly resumed her activities and left me alone.

* * *

I watched the humans work with Selvig for another few days. It was interesting to watch them work. They were as systematic as Asgardian scientists--if more primitive. Selvig never left the plastic bubble where he studied the Tesseract. He stared at the Cube, taking note after note and prodding it in every way possible.  Clint Barton got onto a computer and contacted others, drawing them to our hiding place. They brought science equipment and weapons, stocking our makeshift lab to the point where it almost looked legitimate. 

Another scientist entered the plastic bubble with a crate that he held out to Selvig.  “Put it over there,” he commanded, and the scientist noded.

“Yes, sir,” he muttered and rushed off.

Selvig chuckled lightly as he turned towards Barton. “Where did you find these people?” he laughed.

“SHIELD has no shortage of enemies, doctor,” Clint explained, looking up from the electronic screen in his hands. He took the handle and held it up to the plastic between them. “This the stuff you need?”

“Yeah, iridium,” Selvig confirmed as he picked up a device and began to work with it. “It’s found in meteorites and forms anti-protons. It’s very hard to get a hold of.”

“Especially if SHIELD knows you need it.” 

“Well, I didn’t know,” Selvig corrected. 

Iridium? What did he need that for? I slowly walked up to the plastic sheet, and Selvig smiled gently at me. 

“Hey. The Tesseract has shown me so much,” he gasped, an awe in his voice. “It’s more than knowledge. It’s truth.”

“I know. It uh...It touches everyone differently.” I didn’t know much about the effects of the Tesseract, but the Scepter told me that it was much like what I experienced when the Other used the Scepter on me. “What did it show you, Agent Barton?” I asked, genuinely curious about what he saw.

Clint turned from the plastic to look at me. “My next target.”

“You’re such a stick in the mud,” Selvig voiced as he returned to his work, though he stayed close enough to hear us.

“Tell me what you need,” I requested.

Barton moved towards a crate with a long black case resting on top of it. He opened up the case and took out his folded bow. “I need a distraction.” He thrust the bow forward, and the black, metal limbs sprung forward, the string vibrating with the force. “And and eyeball.”

“Who’s?” I asked.

Barton reached for his electronic pad again and handed it to me. There was an image of iridium and a balding man that, according to the pad, had a supply of iridium housed in his company in Germany. The screen said that he would be throwing a party in the lobby of a high-class hotel miles from the company, and it would have many guests.

“We can rig something up to clone his eye or project an exact image of it,” Selvig suggested.

“Yes, that will work,” I agreed, passing the electronic pad back to Barton.

“But before we do this, sir, there’s something you need to know,” Clint voiced.

“What is it?”

Barton put his bow down and taped on the screen of his pad for a few moments before coming to stand next to me. “It’s called the Avengers Initiative,” he began, swiping through images and brief surveillance clips. “Stephen Rogers, also known as Captain America. During World War II he was experimented on by a group of scientists and injected with a serum that made him faster and stronger than almost any human.” He flipped through black and white photographs of Rogers before and after he was injected. “To end the War, Rogers crashed a plane into an ice cap and was in a coma for almost seventy years.” 

Next image was a short man with glasses and curled brown hair. “Doctor Bruce Banner,” Barton introduced. “He tried to recreate the serum that Rogers was injected with using gamma radiation, but something went wrong and he blew his entire lab to pieces.” Barton flipped to the next image, but it wasn’t of Banner. It was of a muscled, green giant. The next was a video of that giant tearing up a city. Military personnel hit him with bullet after bullet, but it didn’t even phase him. “Banner ended up gaining what he called the Hulk. When he gets angry or feels threatened, he turns into this green monster and can tear just about anything apart.”

Rogers was created through simple genetic experimentation. It wasn’t difficult to accomplish if you had the right equipment--which, clearly, Banner did not. 

The next image was of another short man with a neatly trimmed beard, and he wore a suit in every picture. “Tony Stark,” Barton said. “He’s a billionaire genius and weapons contractor. He was held as a prisoner of war in Iraq before he broke out and came back to America where he made a weaponized suit of armour capable of flight.” Barton scrolled to a video of Stark’s suit taking aim on a group of mercenaries holding captives. He stood there for a moment before squaring his shoulders and firing several bullets at once, taking out the mercenaries and leaving the hostages unharmed. That one was, actually, somewhat impressive. “The press liked to call him ‘Iron Man’, and he happily took on the label.”

It said that his suit was a gold-titanium alloy, so the “Iron Man” title was entirely inaccurate, but I suppose that, to the layman, iron was no different than any other type of metal.

Barton clicked to the next photograph and showed me a tall and thin woman in a black fighting suit with short, red hair. Clint seemed to stare at her with longing for a moment before continuing. “Natasha Romanoff. Fluent in just about every language, a master assassin and interrogator, and she is a skilled fighter in both hand to hand combat and weapons.” Agent Barton deactivated the tablet and held it at his side. “If we are detected going in, SHIELD will send these people to counter us.”

I nodded, taking note of everything he said. “Will you be able to do it if needed?” I questioned.

“Do what, sir?” Barton wondered, shifting his weight.

“Kill her,” I elaborated. “Romanoff. If it came down to it, would you kill her?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Barton nodded sharply. “If I had to, sir, I would kill her.”

The Scepter glowed strongly, filling me with its energy and reminding me that if he couldn’t, I could always make him.

“We’ll need a few hours to make the device to clone that man’s eye,” Selvig reminded.

“Take all the time you need,” I permissed.


	6. Chapter 6

“I shall provide you cover,” I said as Barton gathered weapons for his team. “I’ll distract SHIELD and clone the eye while you proceed with obtaining the iridium.”

“I can’t have you do that, sir,” Clint refused as he slipped arrows into his large quiver. 

“I’m the one they’re after. They’re most likely looking for me rather than the rest of you. I cause enough trouble to get taken by SHIELD. Then, I can neutralize the threat of this Avengers Initiative,” I offered. “You said it yourself. When Banner is threatened…”

“He destroys everything in sight,” Agent Barton finished. “If they capture you, and you somehow manage to put Banner in enough danger to bring out the Hulk…”

“He’ll destroy them,” I added. “Then their SHIELD is out of our way.”

Clint nodded slowly along with my words before looking me over. “Then you can’t go into a fancy Earth party dressed like that. You’ll stick out too much.” Barton lifted a case with an assault rifle stored inside and moved passed me to store it in the van they were taking to the private airfield.

I concentrated on my magic and cast an illusion to alter my Asgardian clothing to a formal Midgardian suit. I morphed the Scepter into a simple cane with a glowing, blue jewel at the top. By the time Clint turned back around, I looked like any other Midgardian.  He froze at the sight of me before scoffing. “I was going to get you some fancy, rich guy clothes, but that works, too.”  I smirked at his reaction.

“We’ll get you out after you bring out the Hulk,” Clint assured.

I nodded. “And perhaps we should move the Tesseract if they somehow manage to get its location out of me,” I suggested.

“Want us do do it without your knowledge, then?”

“Yes,” I confirmed. “I believe that would be better.” 

“Sir?” Selvig called.

I turned towards the sound of his voice and found him approaching Clint and I with two devices in his hands. “What?”

“The device to clone the eye,” he explained as he got to us. He held the smaller of the two devices out to me. “This one would be yours, sir.”  I took it from his hand and examined it. It three prongs that were made to spin circled around a metal cup that glowed blue, and there was a button on the silver top that was meant to activate the device.  “Hold this over his eye, and it will be replicated here.” Selvig passed the second, larger device to Clint Barton. “Hold this up to the recognition scanner and the image of the eye will appear.”

Clint nodded and loaded the large device into the back of the car. I stowed the hand-held version in my suit jacket and waited for the others to finish loading up the rest of the equipment.

* * *

The flight was long but uneventful. It gave me a rare chance to sleep, at least, and when we finally landed, I parted ways with Barton and his team. They went to Schafer’s place of business, and I went to the party.  Night had fallen in Germany, so it was easy to see the bright, flashing lights of the event. I didn’t try to hide, though I didn’t announce my presence either. I had hide myself enough to not make them think it was a trap and leave just enough trace to draw SHIELD in.

My clothes gave the impression that I belonged among this rich class of Midgardian people, and I carried myself lightly, never glancing anywhere except for where I was going. I acted like I owned the place and walked right in without anyone stopping me. The humans milled about in the halls with thin glasses of champagne, conversing with one another while the orchestra played. 

Barton said that he and his team would only need about fifteen minutes to get in position by the time I got to the party, so I travelled the halls above the main part of the event, watching Schafer. No one looked at me twice as I made my way down the stairs when the fifteen minutes were up. 

The crowd was large, and I needed them to disperse. If they were too close, they would interfere and not give me the time I needed to accurately clone the eye.  Intimidation and fear are the best ways to get people to scatter--especially humans.

I spotted Schafer over the edge of the landing and quickly descended towards him, gripping the disguised Scepter.  I spotted a man guarding Schafer’s back who had a lanyard around his neck, marking him as security for the party. I flipped the cane in my hand and used the blue jewel at the top to hit him on the side of the head with enough force to push him over.

The sound of the man’s impact on the hard floor gained the attention of several party attendees, and they gasped and scrambled backwards. Schafer instantly turned to face me, and I grabbed the front of his suit before he could run off. I forced him towards a decorative table that had a carved bull on either end. I flipped him over and slammed him down onto the golden surface.

The people screamed all the more as I pulled out Selvig’s device. I hit the button on top, and the prongs extended, a blue light coming from the metal cup. I knew that Barton was ready on his end when the prongs started to spin. I brought the device down on to Schafer’s left eye and held him while he squirmed, straining to get away.

The people scrambled, screaming as they fled like a disturbed ant colony. Welcome waves of its familiar power rocketed through me as I watched them run.

We were making progress, and this level of commotion was sure to draw attention from SHIELD.

The blue glow from the device faded, letting me know that the job was done. The prongs retracted, and I drew it back from Schafer’s eye, placing it next to him. 

The people ran and screamed, filling me with an odd satisfaction. Perhaps it wouldn’t be terrible to actually rule these people. I was above them, after all. As both an Asgardian and a Jotun.

I finally dropped my Midgardian disguise and followed the humans as they fled the building. My Asgardian armour and horned helmet formed in a golden light, and the cane elongated, revealing what the Scepter truly was.

The street was fret with the same chaos as the party. Humans scrambled and screamed, some glancing back towards me as they ran. Sirens sounded, and a vehicle raced around a corner as it flashed orange-yellow lights. It was heading straight for me. I lifted the Scepter and delivered a blast towards the tires of the vehicle.  The blast was enough to flip the car over as I passed--it missed me by inches--but not enough to kill the people inside. I didn’t want to kill anyone. Killing wasn’t exactly something I ever enjoyed--unlike Thor who slaughtered just about every enemy we came across with a smirk on his face as he asked for a new opponent.

The street I was on was surrounded by buildings and had very few roads out of it. I sent a projection of myself to block the path most of the humans were fleeing towards.  “Kneel before me,” the projection demanded as the Midgardians ran into each other.

They each turned around and tried to run down other paths, but I created two other projections to block those roads as well, trapping them where they stood.

“I said, ‘Kneel!’” I shouted, slamming the end of the Scepter down onto the stone ground, the blue light of the Gem flashing brighter from both myself and my projections. 

One by one, the Midgardians got down to the floor. Some bowed their heads, and others stared at me with terror in their expression. 

Waves of calming and exciting power radiated through me from the Scepter. This was good and right. 

“Is not this simpler?” I asked, lifting the Scepter as I started to walk through the crowd of kneeling humans. “Is this not your natural state?” 

I briefly wondered if they could understand me. Midgard had hundreds of languages, and I didn’t know them all, but the Scepter assured me that they could. That flash of power from the Stone must be acting as some sort of a translator. 

“It’s the unspoken truth of humanity,” I continued, the Scepter’s power coursing through me all the more, “that you crave subjugation.” 

Some of them glanced up at me, only to look back down at their feet. There were questions and defiance in their eyes, but that would soon disappear. What I said was true. They enslaved and imprisoned each other without hesitation. They would soon realise that and stop fighting. 

“Freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power.” The wars that they have fought were all about gaining power over each other. Then they have the nerve to call themselves a free people? “For identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.” Whether it be to each other or to me, they always would.

An aged man slowly got to his feet and glared at me. “Not to men like you,” he said curtly.

“There are no men like me,” I assured, laughing slightly at his bravery.

“There are  _ always _ men like you,” he corrected.

The humans, apparently, needed a bit more motivation to stop fighting. I raised the Scepter as I spoke, “Look to your elder, people.” I aimed the sharp point of the Scepter towards the man. The Scepter glowed, its power washing over me as I prepared a blast of energy. “Let him be an example.”

The man’s eyes widened, and he trembled as he took a step back. The blast tore itself from the Stone in the Scepter and raced towards him, but something or someone landed in front of it at the last second, deflecting the blast with a blue and red shield.  The Scepter’s energy hit me in the chest, my duplicates disappearing as I lost concentration on them and tried to absorb the Scepter’s energy. My efforts were enough to keep me in place but not enough to keep me standing.

I looked up from the ground to find a man in a ridiculous ensemble of red, white and blue and a large white “A” in the middle of his blue helmet, Captain America’s distinctive shield gripped in his hand.  “You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else,” several of the humans got to their feet as he spoke, “we ended up disagreeing.”

I had learned about Midgardin history in school, so I knew well enough that he was comparing me to Hitler. I was not like him. All he preached was death. I promise peace.

“The soldier,” I spat as I recollected myself and stood. Everyone he knew from the 1940’s was surely dead by now. He would be easy enough to defeat if I unfocused him. “The man out of time.”

“I’m not the one out of time,” Stephen Rogers retorted.

A large, black, flying vehicle appeared in the darkened sky and hovered above us. Something came out of the bottom of it, and a voice rang through the air. “Loki, drop the weapon and stand down,” she ordered.

If I was going to get captured and wanted them to be around the Scepter long enough to destroy themselves, I couldn’t make it look like I wanted them to take me.

I raised the Scepter and delivered a powerful blast towards the craft, and the large vehicle easily dodged it.  Rogers’ shield impacted my chest. My armour managed to absorb the impact, but it still pushed the air out of my lungs. Before I could fully catch my breath again, Rogers ran up to me and delivered a sharp punch to my jaw. He was stronger than I thought he would be, but I could still easily beat him.

I brought the blade of the Scepter towards him as the people got up and ran as fast as they could, screaming. Rogers blocked with his shield, so I used the blunted end of the Scepter to push the shield out of the way and jab him in the stomach.  The force I hit him with sent Rogers rolling several feet away, but he quickly got back up, glaring at me as he threw his shield again. I knocked the painted, metal thing away, and Rogers came up behind right it, punching me again.

I brought the Scepter up to hit him away again, but he leaned back enough to dodge. When he righted himself again, I used the thick, sharp end of the Scepter and hit him in the back, throwing him down again.  He managed to roll to his knees, but I marched up to him and jabbed the blunted end of the Scepter onto his helmet, keeping him down.  “Kneel,” I ordered as he hissed and panted.

Rogers suddenly grabbed the Scepter and stood, “Not to day!” he shouted, jumping up and delivering a sharp roundhouse kick to my side.

The force made me stumble back, but I kept my feet under me. Rogers took advantage of my stumbling and came at me again, but I caught him at the shoulders and threw him away from me again. He landed on his side and rolled even further.

Loud Midgardian music suddenly blared throughout the streets, and Rogers glanced up, looking just as confused as I was. I followed his gaze and found a golden streak flying towards us, the silhouette of a man quickly coming into focus.

A second golden light extended out of the silhouette and hit me in the chest with enough force to throw me down onto the stairs, sparks from the blast bouncing off of my armour. The Scepter slipped from my grasp, and I instantly sat up and glanced around for it. I found it lying carelessly on the stone ground behind Tony Stark in his Iron Man suit.

Stark lifted his hands and readied various weapons from his arsonal and fixed them onto me. “Make your move, Reindeer Games.”

Reindeer Games? What kind of an insult was that? It didn’t matter. I was outnumbered now. It was time to be taken in.

Rogers had regathered his shield and walked up next to Stark as I slowly put my hands up, my armour disappearing. It left me vulnerable in my casual, leather clothing, but it would allow them to take me in.

Stark’s weapons retracted into his gold-titanium suit, and he put his hands down. “Good move,” he confirmed.

“Mister Stark,” Rogers panted.

“Captain.”


	7. Chapter 7

Rogers took both of my hands and tied them together with flimsy metal bands that I would easily be able to break out of if I needed to. Stark picked up the Scepter and started to walk away. My heart pounded more and more the further away the Scepter got. I rushed forward, but Rogers grabbed my upper arm and held me back.

I swallowed and breathed deeply. I had to calm down. It’s not like they would--or could--harm the Scepter, but I was still terrified that I wouldn’t get it back.

“What’s the matter? You need that staff to live or something?” Rogers questioned, pushing me forward.

“Scepter,” I corrected. It was so much more than just a staff.

“Scepter, then,” Rogers sighed.

The vehicle in the sky flew off a ways and lowered itself to the ground. Rogers forced me towards it, and it wasn’t long until the vehicle appeared around a corner with Stark standing beside it, the Scepter in his hand.  A ramp lowered out of the belly of the vehicle and joined with the ground, a woman I recognised as Natasha Romanoff stood at the top with a hand on her hip.

The closer Rogers brought me to the Scepter, the more I needed it again. I couldn’t be this close to it and not have it with me. I pleaded that I would be able to stay connected with it somehow. It was the Infinity Stone of the Mind. Couldn’t it connect to mine?

The Scepter’s light increased, and Stark glanced at it. The power of the Scepter washed over me as we passed, instantly calming my anxiety.

Rogers led me up the ramp and pushed me down into one of the seats. Stark followed us up and handed the Scepter to a man who appeared through a door that must lead below.

Stark held the Scepter out to him. “Lock this down tight in the cargo hold,” his filtered voice ordered.  The man nodded and accepted the Scepter. Why was he touching it? He wasn’t worthy of its power. 

I moved to get up, to get the Scepter back into my grasp, but Rogers grabbed my shoulders and forced me back down.  “You really need that scepter, don’t you?” he said, looking me over as he strapped me in.

The metal floor vibrated, and gears whirred as the ramp was pulled up. Romanoff passed without a word and lowered herself into the pilot's chair. She clicked a few buttons and flipped a few switches, causing the Midgardian vehicle to rise from the ground and tear off into the sky.  Stark removed his helmet, and Rogers took his mask off and resting it behind him like a hood. Stark placed his helmet on a shelf next to him, and they both stood by the cockpit.

They had put the Scepter below, but it shouldn’t be there. I knew that I would have to be separated from it when they captured me, but I didn’t imagine that it would be difficult.

My heart jumped as the familiar power of the Scepter suddenly came into me. I closed my eyes and let it in, needing it more than before, now that I was separated from it. " _ We are connected,” _ it whispered, as the calming rush of power faded.

Once the power was gone, I was instantly anxious about being away from the Scepter again, but I felt better than before. I was connected to it now. I’d never be without it.

_ “Is he saying anything?” _ a filtered voice asked. Director Nick Fury. 

“Not a word,” Romanoff muttered.

_ “Just get him here,” _ Fury ordered.  _ “We’re low on time.” _

Low on time? The Chitauri must be breaking through on their end. I could only hope that Selvig had made more progress.

“I don’t like it,” Rogers muttered, glancing at me.

“What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?” Stark questioned.  What was with these strange nicknames? They made no sense.

“I don’t remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop.”

“Still. You are pretty spry for an older fellow,” Stark remarked, looking to Rogers. “What’s your thing? Pilates?”

“What?”

“It’s like calisthenics,” Stark explained. “You might have missed a couple of things doing time as a Capsicle.”  I almost smirked at the comment.

Rogers stared at him for a moment before continuing, “Fury didn’t tell me he was calling you in.”

Thunder rumbled outside of the hull, and white lightning flashed through the viewport in the cockpit.

Thunder and lightning. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky when we left Germany. This was unplanned for. 

“Yeah. There are a lot of things Fury doesn’t tell you.”

The thunder boomed, and a streak of lightning broke the sky with an almost blinding white light that drowned out the electronic lighting inside.  My stomach churned, and my chest tightened. How could he be coming? The Bifrost was broken, and even if it could be repaired, it would take years. 

“What’s the matter?” Rogers questioned, turning to me. “Scared of a little lightning?”

“I’m not overly fond of what follows,” I answered, glancing up through the small viewport above.

He would be here any second. I didn’t expect him to come. There was no telling how this would change what I had planned. 

The thunder and lightning intensified, swirling around us until something impacted the top of the hull, rocking the entire vehicle.  Stark grabbed his helmet and slipped it on, white lights blinking to life in the eyes of the mask. He marched forward and hit the button that lowered the ramp.

“What’re you doing?” Rogers called as he picked up his shield, his mask already on.

As the ramp lowered, exactly who I expected dropped onto it, his Hammer clanging against the metal of the ship.  I strained to keep my breathing under control, but it was more difficult than I thought it would be. He was here, and who knows what he’ll do to me for trying to destroy Jotunheim and take the Earth.

Stark raised a glowing hand, but Thor thrust his Hammer froward and threw Stark several feet away.  Thor reclaimed the Hammer and turned to me wrapping his hand around my throat. I instinctively grabbed his wrists, the Midgardian binds instantly snapping from my quick movement. 

The look in Thor’s eyes was not the same one I saw when I fell. He looked ready to kill me rather than save my life. 

Thor forced me towards the ramp and spun Mijoner. The Hammer picked us up and dragged us through the air until we landed atop a rocky hill in a forest.

Thor dropped me on the ground and I fell hard into it, a sharp pain from the rib that broke when I fell through that void leaving me breathless.  I couldn’t help but laugh with the little air I had. Somehow, Thor must know that I broke my rib and that it never properly healed.

“Where is the Tesseract?” he questioned.

“I missed you too,” I laughed.

“Do I look to be in a gaming mood?” he shouted.

“You should thank me,” I corrected as I started to get up from the dusty ground. “With the Bifrost gone, how much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster to conjure you here to your precious Earth?”

A deep thud sounded as Thor dropped his Hammer. He grabbed my arm and dragged me the rest of the way up. He put his hand on the back of my neck for some reason. Probably to make sure I wouldn’t escape, but his tense muscles were quickly relaxing with his expression.  “I thought you dead,” he cried.

I know he did, but the reminder made me think of the tears that were in his eyes as I let go. “Did you mourn?” I asked.

His eyebrows drew together in confusion for a moment. “We all did. Our father--”

I held up a finger, cutting him off. “ _ Your _ father.” My heart clenched as some thorn bit into it, and I pushed his arms off of me. “He did tell you my true parentage, did he not?”

I started to walk off down the thin path towards level ground, my side aching. Had it always hurt this bad and I had just never noticed? If it had, it must be the Scepter that drowned the pain.

“We were raised together,” Thor voiced. “We played together. We fought together. Do you remember none of that?”

“I remember a shadow,” I muttered, turning back to him. “Living in the shade of your greatness.” I might have been the one to let go of the staff, but he was the one who made me. Everything in my life led up to that. “I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I, who was, and should be king.”

“So you take the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights?” Thor questioned.

They weren’t imaginary. I was always left alone. Thor would run off with his friends while I always had trouble making any. Odin doted upon him, giving him everything that should have been mine.

“No. The Earth is under my protection, Loki,” Thor said.

I laughed in disbelief. “And you’re doing a marvelous job with that. The humans slaughter each other in droves while you idly fret. I mean to rule them, as why should I not?”

“You think yourself above them.”

“Well, yes.” We were stronger, more advanced, have a longer lifespan. Both of our races are above them in every way possible.

“Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother,” Thor breathed, his mouth gently twitching upwards. “A throne would suit you ill.”

I growled and pushed him away as heated anger coursed through me. I marched back up the pathway to try to get as far away from him as possible, but we were atop a cliff, so there was only so far I could go.

“I’ve seen worlds you’ve never known about!” I argued. “I have grown,  _ Odinson, _ ” I spat the name, “in my exile. I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it--”

“Who showed you this power?” Thor interrupted, raising an accusatory finger towards me. “Who controls the would-be king?”

“I am a king!” No one controls me. Not the Other or Thanos or Odin.

“Not here!” he shouted, grabbing my arms and shaking me slightly. “You give up the Tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream!” Thor’s expression gradually softened, and his hand moved to the back of my neck again. “You come home,” he begged.

My vision spun for a moment, and I saw him clearly. He wasn’t angry. He was sad and disappointed. He wanted me home?

The power of the Scepter rushed into me again, even from this distance--I truly was connected with it now--and Thor’s pleading words became entertaining enough to make me laugh lightly. I shook my head and shrugged. “I don’t have it.”

Thor bared his teeth and roughly backed away, Miljoner flying into his outstretched hand. He raised the Hammer in threat, but I cut him off. “You need the Cube to bring me home, but I’ve sent it off. I know not where.”

Thor huffed in exasperation before bringing the Hammer inches from my chest. “You listen well, brother. I--”

The golden light of Stark’s flight path ran right into Thor, sweeping him away.

“I’m listening,” I voiced in his absence.

I glanced off of the cliff and found Thor throwing his hammer at Stark’s suit. The two collided, and Stark was forced meters away. He crashed through trees and landed hard on the ground.

This would be entertaining, watching Stark try to face off against Miljoner. And if these two and the Captain were to fight against me, I would gain an insight to how they all fight together.  I took a seat in the dirt and settled in to watch the ensuing fight like it was theater.

Thor clearly spotted me. He held his hand out and the Hammer flew to him instantly. I chuckled as I watched Stark rise to his feet unsteadily, Thor spinning Miljoner at his side.

Stark delivered a golden blast that threw Thor into a tree, and before he could get up, Stark ran up to him and kicked, breaking the trunk of the tree into pieces. Thor was separated from his Hammer and thrown to the forest ground.  Thor got up and summoned the Hammer. Once he had it, he raised it towards the sky and created a bright bolt of electricity. He sent the lightning directly towards Stark, and his suit sparked and glowed dangerously.

“Oh,” I muttered. “That must hurt.”

When the bombardment of lightning ended, Stark’s suit had bright orange cracks spider webbing across his chest. But after a moment, he sent another golden blast towards Thor, and it hit him square in the chest, sending him further away than before.  Thor managed to land on his feet, and he glared at Stark in his crouched position. They both flew towards each other, and Stark caught Thor, taking them both crashing through the trees and tearing up the side of a mountain. After a moment, their wild flight path brought them back where they started, several trees coming down around them. 

“That one’s worse,” I laughed, watching them get to their feet.

Thor threw a punch towards Stark’s face mask, and Stark tried to return it, but Thor dodged and caught his hand. Stark readied another punch, and Thor caught that one as well, crushing the metal of the suit in his grasp. Stark opened his hand and blasted Thor again, but my brother held firm. Stark decided to hit Thor with his metal helmet, but he had no idea how many goblets I’ve seen Thor crush with his thick skull. Thor returned the moved and sent Stark staggering backwards until he fell and rolled into another crouch. He flew towards Thor, grabbed him, spun and threw him into the trunk of a fallen tree.

That might leave a bruise tomorrow morning.

“Hey!” Rogers’ voice called, and I turned around to find him standing behind me, his parachute gliding to the ground. 

Rogers rushed towards me and hastily bound my hands together with the rope from his parachute.  “You’re just in time,” I said, leaning back into the rock wall I was next to. “Your friends are putting on a marvelous show.”

“They’re not my friends,” Rogers corrected as he got back to his full height. “I hardly even know them.”

Rogers raced down the path towards the fight and stood atop one of the uprooted trees. “Hey!” he shouted, throwing his shield between them. The shield bounced off of Thor’s hammer and Stark’s chest and went right back to Rogers. “That’s enough!” He jumped down from the tree and looked towards Thor. “Now, I don’t know what you plan on doing here--”

“I’ve come to put an end to Loki’s schemes!” Thor shouted.

Schemes? That’s a hurtful word.

“Then prove it. Put that hammer down,” Rogers ordered, though he shouldn’t have.

Thor never liked putting down his Hammer, especially when he’s told to. 

“Uh-yeah. No. Bad call,” Stark interjected, a slight panic in his voice. “He loves his hamm--”

Thor brought Miljoner up and hit Stark in the chest without looking at him. Stark rolled through the debris of the trees for several meters before finally stopping.  “You want me to put the Hammer down?” Thor growled, his voice rising in volume with each word. 

Thor jumped up and was bringing his Hammer towards Rogers, but the Captain brought his shield up at the last second. The result was a resounding clang that sent a wave of energy in every direction. The hair stood up on the back of my neck from the electricity sparking in the air. The remaining trees were shoved down, leaving an empty crater around the three men. 

They all got up and looked around them, glancing between each other. “Are we done here?” Rogers panted, making me choke as I strained to keep back laughter at his statement. He might look young but his age showed in every word he spoke

“No,” Thor voiced. “There’s still Loki.”

They all looked up to me.

“I’ve got him tied up,” Rogers assured, though their voices were so low now that I could barely hear them.

I stood in response and sharply separated my hands, instantly snapping the thin cords. “Weren’t you two taking me in somewhere?” I called.

Thor spun Miljoner and flew up to me. He didn’t talk this time. He grabbed my collar and dragged me down towards Stark and Rogers, dropping me between them.

Despite the rough treatment, my side didn’t throb. The power of the Scepter was racing through me. Perhaps it  _ was _ acting as a sort of painkiller for me, and for that, I was ever more grateful to it. 

I picked myself up from the ground and looked between the three men. “Guess we’re going back to your flying vehicle?”

“Uh..it’s called a jet,” Stark corrected.

“Is it a vehicle?” I challenged.

“...Yes,” he hesitated.

“Does it fly?”

Stark groaned, rushing towards me. He took my hands and held them together behind my back. His suit clanged as he bound my wrists together again. I didn’t know what he was binding me with, but it felt stronger than the flimsy metal ties that Rogers tried to use. 

Stark took the back of my tunic and pulled me towards him. He jumped up from the ground, and the golden stream came from the boots of the suit. He flew us upwards and the Midgardian vehicle we left came quickly into view. He landed us on the ramp and shoved me towards a seat as Thor dropped onto the open ramp with Rogers in hand. 

The three men came into the vehicle and surrounded me. Stark pushed the button that retracted the ramp as Romanoff called, “You boys done playing in the dirt?”

“Just get us there, Romanoff,” Stark ordered.


	8. Chapter 8

I spent the rest of the short flight being stared down by Rogers and Stark. They never took their eyes off of me, but Thor glanced between me and the floor. Every time I sensed his eyes on me, I looked to him, but he quickly cast his gaze downwards.

Another Midgardian flying vehicle, that looked to be a sort of aircraft carrier, glided into view. The jet we were aboard was dwarfed by its size.

Romanoff clicked a few switches in the cockpit as we descended until we touched down onto the surface of the larger ship. She guided us towards an open garage and stopped us there. The heavy door closed behind us, and armed soldiers instantly sprang from the doors of the room. The ramp was lowered, and the soldiers marched up. Stark and Rogers backed away a few steps and allowed them to surround me. I stood and went with them as they guided me out of the jet. They formed a box around me as we journeyed down the halls of the ship. 

It was more elaborate than I thought it would be. It had multiple labs and armouries filled with their weapons. But when we passed one of their labs, I looked through the soldiers surrounding me and instantly spotted the only person inside. 

Bruce Banner. He was exactly where Barton said he would be. I smirked at him as we passed, and he removed his spectacles to look at me before shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose. 

The soldiers led me down a few more halls and into a dark, round room with a clear, glass cage suspended in the center. They opened the large door, removed my shackles and shoved me inside. The thick, glass door slid closed with a hiss as the cell pressurised, and they left me alone.

Fury walked in as the soldiers left and went up to a control panel without a single glance at me. “In case it’s unclear,” he finally voiced, “if you try to escape,” he lifted a covering off of the control panel and pressed a few buttons on it, “if you so much as scratch that glass…”

Fury tapped a final command into the panel, and the whistle of wind rushed through the speakers inside the cage that allowed me to hear him. I approached the glass of the cage and glanced down at the open floor, confirming what I already knew.

“It’s 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?” Fury wondered harshly, closing the floor back up. “Ant.” He gestured to me. “Boot.” He indicated the panel.

I chuckled at his cleverness to return my words to me. I backed up into the center of the circular, glass room. “It’s an impressive cage,” I praised. “Not built, I think, for me.”

“Built for something a lot stronger than you,” Fury confirmed. 

“Oh, I’ve heard.” I glanced towards the black ball of the camera hanging near the wall of the cage where Banner and the others were almost surely watching me from. “A mindless beast makes play he’s still a man. How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?” I questioned, looking back to the Director.

“How desperate am I?” he repeated, marching closer to the cage. “You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can’t hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it’s fun. You have made me _ very _ desperate. You might not be glad that you did.”

“Ooh,” I whispered. His idle threats were so ignorant. He knew nothing of what was really happening. “It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power--unlimited power--and for what?” I couldn’t help but laugh slightly. “A warm light for all of mankind to share?” If he knew what true power was as I did--if any of the humans did--he would never share it. “And then to be reminded what real power is.”

Fury stood, stone-faced, for a moment before scoffing silently and turning his back to me. “Well, let me know if ‘real power’ wants a magazine or something,” he mocked as he exited.

I looked back up to the camera and waited. When would I get the Scepter back? They would take a while to study it. They had to be around the Scepter long enough for it to influence them, to get them riled up, and who knows how long that would take. It could be anywhere from a few hours to a few days, but it would happen sooner or later.

Being away from the Scepter this long had made me more anxious than I thought it would be. I had never been away from it this long. My long-injured side was already starting to throb again. I had to pace the length of the circular cell just to keep my mind off of it, though it wasn’t exactly working. 

_ “The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig’s reports of the Tesseract. But it’s going to take weeks to process,”  _ an unfamiliar voice muttered, making me freeze.

I looked around the room but no one was there.

_ “If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around six hundred teraflops,” _ another voice whispered. It sounded like Stark, but still no one was in the room the cell was in.

The first voice chuckled.  _ “And all I packed is a toothbrush.” _

I concentrated on the voices and found that they weren’t coming from the room at all. They were coming from inside me, from the back of my mind. 

I wandered to the bench in the cell and lowered myself onto it. I let my heavy eyes close and concentrated on the whispering voices. The familiar, numbing power of the Scepter washed over me and dulled the ache in my side.

_ “You know, you should come by Stark Tower some time. Top ten floors, all R and D. You’d love it. It’s CandyLand.” _

Stark was talking to another scientist. It must be Banner. 

_ “Thanks but, last time I was in New York, I kind of broke Harlem,”  _ Banner refused _. _

_ “Well, I promise a stress-free environment,” Stark assured. “No tension. No surprises.” _

Banner gave off a sudden shout that made me jump. A sharp pain came from my side and radiated throughout the rest of me. It hadn’t hurt this badly since I was coughing up blood after I broke my rib initially.

_ “Stark Tower?”  _ a third voice came as the pain died down. Rogers.  _ “That big ugly...building in New York?” _

_ “It’s powered by an Arc Reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?”  _ Banner asked.

That Arc Reactor could hold the answer to the energy problem of the Tesseract. It could hold enough power in it to open the gateway wide enough to let the Chitauri come through and take what they wanted, allowing me to find the rest of the Infinity Stones, finally keep the Scepter without threat. 

The more I thought about how much I needed it, the more my heart raced, my side throbbing with each pulsing heartbeat. 

The Scepter would end the pain, but I was away from it now. However, for some reason, I felt like I was slowly waking up. But how could I be waking up if I was never asleep? 

_ “I think Loki’s tryin’ to wind us up,” _ Rogers argued.  _ “This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don’t stay focused, he’ll succeed.” _

Despite his ridiculous attire, Rogers was smarter than he looked.

_ “Of the people in this room, which one of us is A: wearing a spangly outfit, and B: not of use?” _ Stark questioned.

_ “Steve,” _ Banner called,  _ “tell me none of this smells funky to you.” _

The Scepter was already taking effect. They were arguing. It wouldn’t be long now. I would have the Scepter back into my grasp soon, but I couldn’t wait any longer.

_ “You know, I’ve got a cluster of shrapnel trying every second to crawl its way into my heart,” _ Stark muttered.  _ “This stops it. This little circle of light, it’s part of me now. Not just armour.” _

The circle of light in the center of his chest stopped shrapnel? That might be useful. If I needed an emergency defense against him, I could rip it out, possibly damaging his heart and suit functions enough to kill him.

The Scepter’s power washed over me enough to make me nearly fall asleep, but I gladly fell into it. The sharp pain from my side diminished as I did, and the Scepter showed me an image of the compacted iridium being inserted into another portal making device. 

_ “They’re almost ready,” _ the Scepter whispered, soothing my anxiety.

The Scepter’s power faded, renewing my nervousness and the pain in my side. I strained to keep it out of my expression and stood from the bench. I slowly resumed pacing the cell to distract myself.

After a moment I suddenly felt eyes on me, and I froze. Romanoff. It must be. “There’s not many people who can sneak up on me,” I said, turning around to find the black-suited woman standing on the other side of the glass.

“But you figured I’d come,” she added.

“After,” I answered. “After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend. As a balm. And I would cooperate.”

It was a standard negotiation tactic. You induce either torture or indefinitely long solitary confinement intended to get the victim to break, but if they don’t, then the friend would come and convince you to trust them enough to get the information out of you.

“I want to know what you’ve done to Agent Barton,” Natasha quietly demanded. 

“I would say I’ve expanded his mind,” I answered, thinking of what the Scepter has done for me. 

Romanoff tilted her head to the side before taking slow steps forward. “And once you’ve won, once you’re king of the mountain,” she stopped feet from the glass and crossed her arms in front of her chest, “what happens to his mind?”

“Oh. Is this love, Agent Romanoff?” I wondered, remembering how Barton stared at her image. She had the same look in her eye as she thought of him, though her expression was guarded.

“Love is for children,” she denied. “I owe him a debt.”

I backed away from the glass, making it seem like I was yielding to her. “Tell me,” I requested, taking a seat on the bench again.

She tensed for a moment and licked her lips before sighing. “Before I worked for SHIELD, I uh…” She trailed off as she lowered herself into the chair that rested outside of the glass. “Well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set. I didn’t care who I used for or on. I got on SHIELD’s radar in a bad way.” Her eyes fixed on something only she could see. “Agent Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call.” She looked back up to me. 

I nodded along with her words, pretending to understand. “And what will you do if I vow to spare him?” I asked.

“Not let you out,” she said with a smirk.

“No, but I like this,” I laughed, leaning forward. Human and Asgardian emotions were so intricate. They could make the strongest person fall and allow the weakest person to destroy a city. “Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man?”

“Regimes fall every day,” she countered. “I tend not to weep over that. I’m Russian. Or I was.”

Loss of what you once were. It can make a person entirely different. “And what are you now?”

“It’s really not that complicated,” she sighed, rising from her chair, approaching the glass and crossing her arms again. “I got red in my ledger. I’d like to wipe it out.”

Barton showed me her record. The Black Widow had so much more than red in her history. “Can you?” I wondered. “Can you wipe out that much red? Dreykov’s daughter, Sao Paulo, the hospital fire?” As I listed one incident after another, Agent Romanoff tensed more and more, her eyes gradually widening. “Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dripping.” I got up from the bench and paced closer to the glass. It was my turn for the upper hand. “It’s gushing red, and you think saving a man is no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest of sentimentality. This is a child at prayer.” Natasha’s mouth parted, and her breathing quickened, emboldening me all the more. “Pathetic! You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are part of you. And they will never go away.”

One final push would get her to leave, to go back to the Scepter and speed up my getting out of here. She was already on the verge of running.

I took my fist and slammed it onto the glass, making Romanoff nearly jump out of her skin. “I won’t touch Barton,” I threatened. “Not until I make him kill you. Slowly. Intimately. In every way he knows you fear. And then he’ll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams, I’ll split his skull.” Natasha blinked rapidly and backed away from the glass, turning away from me. “This is my bargain, you mewling girl.”

Her breathing grew audibly shaky, and she sniffled for a moment. “You’re a monster,” she whimpered.

“Oh, no,” I laughed. “You’ve brought the monster.”

Natasha lifted her head and turned around, her expression blank as could be. “So. Banner,” she said. “That’s your play.”

“What?” I breathed.

Romanoff put a hand to her ear and spad away. “Loki means to unleash the Hulk,” she muttered as she left. “Keep Banner in the lab. I’m on my way. Send Thor as well.” She stopped at the door and turned back to me. “Thank you for your cooperation.” She smirked arrogantly before turning her back to me and walking out.

She had tricked me. Her “specific skill set”. Barton told me that she was a skilled interrogator, but based on her other activities, I had naturally assumed that he meant that she interrogated with torture. 

I couldn’t help but laugh a little. She was impressive. 

It didn’t matter, though. Once the Scepter did its work, they would be powerless to stop the Hulk from ripping this place apart, and Barton and his team would be here to get me out of here before the chaos began. This part of SHIELD would still fall along with their Avengers Initiative. 

I lowered myself onto the bench again and let my eyes fall closed, reaching for the Scepter again. 

_ “Listen, I’m not leaving just because you get a little twitchy,” _ Banner’s voice came, defiance and questions in his tone.  _ “I’d like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.” _

There was silence for a moment before Director Fury’s voice came.  _ “Because of him.” _

_ “Me?” _ another voice wondered, easily recognisable as Thor’s. 

_ “Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town,” _ Fury explained. 

They were studying the Tesseract because of Thor? Odin was wrong. I wasn’t the only one who could make mistakes. 

_ “My people want nothing but peace with your planet,” _ Thor countered.

Furry challenged,  _ “But you’re not the only people out there, are you?” _

This was taking too long. At this rate, I might get the Scepter back by sundown. I was clearly out of sorts without it. It was the only explanation as to how Romanoff was able to worm information out of me.

_ “Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies,”  _ Thor voiced.  _ “It is a signal to all realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war.” _ At least Thor wasn’t entirely oblivious. 

_ “A nuclear deterrent. Cause that always calms everything right down.”  _

_ “Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark,”  _ Fury said. 

Things were getting a move on at least. 

_ “I thought humans were more evolved than this,” _ Thor spat.

_ “Excuse me. Did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?”  _ Fury challenged.

_ “You treat your champions with such mistrust.” _

Their words came faster and faster until they overlapped in a loud argument that eventually faded to lowered voices and whispered threats. It wouldn’t be long now. The Hulk would come out and tear this place apart. Barton and his team would be waiting. I would get the Scepter back, and I could continue with the work. Now that I had information of Stark’s Arc Reactor, if Selvig had made progress on the Tesseract, we would be able to open the portal soon, and I would be able to keep the Scepter forever.

_ “Until you dragged me back into this freakshow and put everyone here at risk,” _ Banner explained.

The power of the Scepter suddenly diminished, and every part of me instantly became heavy and tired, and my side throbbed like it hadn’t ever before. Someone had picked up the Scepter. 

_ “You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay clam?” _ Banner questioned harshly. Banner. He picked up the Scepter. His Hulk half was coming to the surface. Finally.  After a moment of silence the Scepter’s power returned to me, and Banner spoke in a much calmer voice.  _ “Sorry, kids. You don’t get to see my party trick after all.” _

No, no, no. He was supposed to turn. He was supposed to have become the Hulk by now. The humans must be smarter than their limited advancements made them seem.

The bang of a sudden explosion rocked the entire ship. I looked around but found nothing, so it didn’t originate from inside. Barton didn’t tell me his plan for getting me out, but I assumed that it had started.

After a long moment of uncomfortably calm silence, animalistic cries reached me, echoing throughout the ship.

It would seem that the Hulk was released.


	9. Chapter 9

The door to the room outside opened and several armoured men--some of the soldiers Barton brought--marched in. One of them walked up to the control panel and hit the release switch on the door to the cell. The glass door slid open, and I got up from the bench, gladly exiting the prison. 

“Are you alright, sir?” one of the soldiers asked.

I didn’t register his question. I was out of the cell now. I could get the Scepter back. I glanced at them and ordered, “Do what Barton has instructed.”

“Yes, sir!” they agreed, marching back out the door, though one stayed behind. 

Once they left, I closed my eyes and reached for the power of the Scepter. Once it washed over me, I concentrated on my magic. It was dangerous to teleport to a place I couldn’t see or have never been to before. I could scramble my molecules or leave half in one place. I also couldn’t breathe when I moved myself through spacetime like this, so I was limited by my need for air. I could kill myself if I teleported too far, but the Scepter didn’t feel that far away. It was worth the risk. 

I lifted my hand and physically grasped for the Scepter, and after a moment, its cold metal appeared in my hand. I opened my eyes again and found it resting on a counter in a destroyed laboratory. The exhaustion and pain instantly vanished with its touch, but I didn’t have much time to enjoy it.

Thor would surely come for me, and he thought I was still in the cell. Thor was a complication I hadn’t planned on. He couldn’t interfere. Getting rid of him by dropping the cell 30,000 feet with him in it was the simplest way. He physically outmatched me, so I couldn’t take him head on. A drop from that height could kill him, but he still had a chance to live. I never hated my brother before, and even now, I questioned whether or not I truly did. I don’t want to watch him die.

I teleported back to where the cell rested and waited near the control panel. I cast two illusions: one to bend the light around me, tricking the eye into thinking I wasn’t there, and the other I cast as the door opened. It made it look like I was just coming out of the glass cage now rather than a few minutes ago.

“No!” Thor’s voice shouted.

Thor ran into the room, and I made the illusion of me drop into a fighting stance. Thor jumped to try to tackle the image, but he flew straight through it. I pushed the button to close the glass door the moment he landed on the ground. Thor stood and turned to face the door.

Others from SHIELD would surely come, so rather than reveal myself, I cast another image of me and placed it right in front of the glass. “Are you ever not going to fall for that?” I wondered, speaking through the illusion.

Thor roared much like Banner as the Hulk and lifted his Hammer, bringing it down onto the glass. Cracks appeared in the rounded cage wall, and the mechanisms holding it shuddered, lowering him a few centimeters.

Thor froze, and I was almost surprised that it didn’t drop him. I suppose these humans would want to give Banner chances to calm down before letting him go.

I chuckled at Thor’s backing away. I made the illusion turn around and walk towards the real me. “The humans think us immortal,” I laughed. The illusion was on top of me now. “Shall we test that?”

I lifted the plastic covering from the button that would drop Thor to the ground far below when a grunt sounded from near the door. I looked up and found that the soldier who was standing guard had fallen to the floor, and a man with light brown hair and a large weapon that wasn’t from Earth stood over him.  “Move away, please,” he calmly requested.

I made the illusion of me back away from the panel a step or two, and the armed man in a casual suit took several steps forward.

“You like this?” he wondered, lifting his weapon slightly. “We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don’t know what it does.”

He was close enough to shoot both me and the illusion. I kept myself invisible and moved behind him. He would try to kill me whether I was an immediate threat to him or not, and I didn’t want to die.

The man clicked a switch on the side and powered up the weapon. It glowed with an orange light that looked much like the Destroyer that guarded Odin’s collection. “Do you want to find out?”

I dropped both illusions and thrust the blade of the Scepter through his back, breaking his spine and sternum, pushing it through to the other side. 

“No!” Thor yelled, his call muffled by the glass as he beat against it again.

I pulled the now blood-covered Scepter from the man’s chest, and he fell to the floor. Blood smeared on the wall, dripped down his chest and leaked from the corner of his mouth.

My vision wavered for a moment, and I saw the scene in a different way somehow. It looked wrong, though it didn’t feel wrong.

Everything suddenly snapped back together again, and my vision returned to normal as I walked past him and back to the control panel.

Thor glared at me with a disgust I’ve only ever seen him show towards other Frost Giants. I laughed at the situation. It took me killing someone he barely knew in front of him to finally get him to hate me.

I lifted the covering off of the switch again and opened the hatch underneath the glass cage. I looked to Thor, my hand hovering over the drop switch in threat. He backed away from the cracked glass, glancing between me and the open floor. 

After a tense moment, I tapped the button, and the cage was instantly dropped, taking Thor with it.

I stared at the empty space for a moment, waiting to feel something as the hatch closed up again. Despite what Thor thought, I did remember when we played, making pretend war and trying to teach each other our different ways of fighting. He was my brother, and it’s what made his betrayal--whether he truly meant it or not--hurt all the worse.

But I felt nothing. The Scepter glowed more and more, but I felt nothing towards him.

Time to get back to work, I suppose. There was nothing left to do here.

I turned away from the control panel and took a few steps towards the door, but a weak voice stopped me from leaving. “You’re gonna lose.”

I turned back to the dying man. “Am I?” I mockingly questioned. 

“It’s in your nature,” he muttered, the red stain of blood gradually growing along his shirtfront.

“Your heroes are scattered,” I pointed out. “Your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?”

The man took a breath, more blood dripping from his mouth. “You lack conviction.”

His words filled me with a flare of anger. I was committed to keeping the Scepter for as long as possible, and as long as everything stayed on schedule, I would have it indefinitely.  But I took a breath to make my words calm. “I don’t think I’m--”

A bright blast of fire came from the weapon that rested in the man’s lap. It was powerful enough to push me through the wall of metal and stone. I rolled to a stop and had to rest there for a moment to catch my breath. The fire had singed my clothes, and it took all I had just to lower the temperature of the air around me so that I could heal. I was never very tolerant of heat, let alone fire. I couldn't believe that fact hadn't clued younger me into what I am.

“Sir!” a voice shouted. I looked up to find an armoured woman racing towards me with a large gun. “We called for your guard, but he didn’t respond. Are you alright?”

I forced myself to stand, leaning almost my entire weight onto the Scepter. “Fine,” I strained.

“We have a jet standing by to take you to Selvig,” she informed.

I nodded, and we both rushed off through the halls of the falling fortress. We came to a destroyed wall that had cut wires and broken metal jutting out from the edges of the hole at all angles. They clouds whipped passed, and wind billowed through so hard that it nearly blew us both off of our feet. After a moment, a jet that must be the one the woman mentioned glided into view and turned around, exposing the open ramp where another soldier stood waiting.

The soldier waved us forward, and the woman and I both took a running jump through the hole in the wall. The jet flew gently towards us, and we both landed onto the ramp without harm. We rushed inside, and the ramp closed up after us. The jet sped away, and the flaming SHIELD ship shrunk into the distance.

I didn’t know if Banner managed to destroy the Avengers Initiative. I could only hope for the best, and they don't have Thor’s help anymore. It made them much more predictable.

“Where’s Barton?” I questioned, finally noticing that he wasn’t in the jet.

“He didn’t make it off of the ship, sir,” one of the soldiers answered. 

I nodded. The spell from the Scepter was probably broken now. He would tell SHIELD everything he could remember from working with Selvig and me. 

We needed to accelerate our timetable. I didn’t care if Selvig was finished with his research or not. We needed to open the portal before the remainder of SHIELD could stop us.


	10. Chapter 10

The jet landed carefully in a remote area of New York, and the ramp lowered as I rose from my seat. I left the jet without a word and was instantly greeted by Selvig. “Good to see that you made it out in one piece, sir.” He smiled, but it quickly fell as he looked around at the few exiting the jet. “Where’s Barton?”

“He failed to meet up with us, I’m afraid,” I told him, feeling the Scepter’s power surge through me.  Someone wanted to talk to me. It had to be either the Chitauri or the Other. I couldn’t let the Scepter take me to them yet. Not until I had good news.

“He’s not…” Selvig trailed off.

“Not to my knowledge, no,” I sighed before glancing up to the black cargo truck behind him. “What of the Tesseract?”

Selvig’s expression brightened. “She has shown me what to do.” He gestured towards the vehicle and started to walk towards it. He opened the back and presented the large device to me. “This will allow us to open a portal to a whole new universe. Now all we need is a stable and powerful enough energy source.”

“I may know where we can get one,” I informed. “Do you know of Anthony Stark’s Arc Reactor.”

“Of course I do,” Selvig answered. “It was all over the news.”

“The Arc Reactor has enough energy in it to power Stark’s entire building and everything inside of it for a year at least. So if it was used to power just this device…”

“It will have more than enough power to open a portal, but will it be stable?” Selvig questioned.

“I would assume so. Stark has a smaller version of the Reactor inside of his chest, after all,” I reminded, “and if it wasn’t stable, Stark would have died a long time ago.”

The Scepter’s power surged insistently. The Other or the Chitauri must be restless.

“If we’re going to New York to commandeer Stark’s Reactor, we need to move fast,” a commanding voice added. 

I turned to find the same woman who was piloting the jet that flew us here. “Yes,” I agreed, “but I need to talk with someone first.”

I took the Scepter and marched past her and back up the ramp to the jet. I hit the switch that drew the ramp upwards and checked around the small vehicle, confirming that no one was inside.  Once the ramp was closed, I lowered myself into one of the seats and closed my eyes, finally letting the Scepter take me where it needed to.

The Other’s form appeared faintly in the darkness and rapidly came into focus. “The Chitauri will not wait any longer,” he growled.

“They will not have to,” I assured. “We have a plan to open the portal, and it will take effect soon.”

“How soon?”

“No more than twelve hours.” I gave myself a longer window than I thought it would take to account for any slip ups or delays.

“Finally,” he breathed. “I suppose that means you would like to meet them at last.”

“I wouldn’t be against it.”

“Just remember: when this is all said and done and you have your war, the Tesseract falls to us or you will wish that Odin had left you on that rock,” the Other threatened.

I didn’t respond as the Scepter’s light intensified again, swelling within me until the scene changed. A massive horde of tall, long armed Chitauri warriors stood before me, their creatures and weapons of warfare groaning and growling. 

“You’re Loki,” one of them shouted over the cacophony of noise. “You’re here to help us take the Earth.”

“I am.”

The army’s roaring grew louder with my confirmation, but the sight of so many of them made my vision distort. 

They were going to Earth. They would blast everything in sight, and the population of the planet wouldn’t matter to them.

The Scepter glowed brightly, and my vision settled again. 

If they killed the humans, there would be nothing and no one left to rule other than this army that already had a prominent governing system.  “But I will tell you,” I said, addressing the Chitauri warrior who spoke to me, “that when you attack them, you need to take out their vehicles first.”

“Why?” he challenged. “Why not the humans themselves?”

“It’s their fastest mode of transportation,” I justified. “If you get rid of those, they have no way to run. From there, they’re all yours.” 

But it might distract the Chitauri long enough to let the humans run. Once they leveled the infrastructure, I could collect the Gems, deliver them to Thanos and get rid of these Chitauri. The people would be safe, and I would have something to rule. 

“You got it,” the Chitauri warrior agreed excitedly. “When will the portal be ready?”

“It will be ready when it’s ready,” I answered curtly, shoving the image of the Chitauri army away from my mind.

I came back to myself inside of the jet and stood from the seat. I lowered the ramp and walked back out, finding the humans in the same position as before.  “All we need is transportation and Selvig to operate the machine around the Tesseract,” I informed. “The less people go, the less detectable we’ll be. We’ll be able to open the portal faster, so by the time SHIELD detects us, they will already be overrun.”

“Yes, sir!” they shouted and got to work on preparing Selvig and his machine to move to Stark Tower in the city.

* * *

After an hour’s drive, Selvig and a few others aided him in moving the large machine he had built around the Tesseract. It was assembled on the top tier of Stark Tower’s roof and connected to the Arc Reactor. The others left before they could be detected, and Selvig finished the process, plugging in wires and typing commands into a small computer. The Tesseract glowed, taking in electricity as the pointed, copper top of the machine started to slowly spin.

Stark’s gold and red suit flew into view, and he glided up to Selvig, though it didn’t matter what he did. The Tesseract and the device were already self-sustaining. 

“Shut it down, Doctor Selvig,” I faintly heard Stark order.

“It’s too late!” Selvig shouted up to him. “She can’t stop now.” He left his computer and paced closer to the Tesseract, never taking his eyes off of it. “She wants to show us something! A new universe.”

Stark floated for a moment before raising his hands and delivering a golden blast towards the Tesseract. The shield around it absorbed the energy and thrust it outwards, shoving away both Stark and Selvig. Selvig seemed to hit his head, and he didn’t get back up, but Stark managed to right himself in the air and look down to me on his terrace. He glided towards me and dropped down onto a small, circular landing platform. Spinning rings came up from the floor, removing various parts of his suit as he walked down the path. 

I went back up the stairs and through the glass doors and into the parlour to greet him. He was here for a reason, but whether it was to distract me, fight me or negotiate with me, I couldn’t tell.  “Please tell me you’re going to appeal to my ‘humanity’,” I voiced as he descended the ramp to the main floor, his hands clasped behind his back.

“Uh, actually, I’m planning to threaten you,” he corrected.

“You should have left your armour on for that,” I cautioned, gesturing to him with the sharpened blade of the Scepter.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “It’s seen a bit of mileage, and you’ve got the glowstick of destiny.” He pointed to the Scepter.

“Glowstick of destiny.” It was derogatory, but I couldn’t help but smirk at the statement as I looked down to the shining Stone in the Scepter.

“Would you like a drink?” Stark offered, moving behind his bar.

I shook my head. “Stalling me won’t change anything.”

“No, no. Threatening.” Stark indicated his collection of Midgardian alcohol. “No drink? You sure? I’m having one.”

This was ridiculous. The portal was about to open and allow the Chitauri to pour into this primitive world, and Stark’s last line defense was to offer me a drink and call it threatening me? “The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?”

Stark removed the cap from a glass bottle of alcohol. “The Avengers.”

The Avengers? I knew of the Avengers Initiative, so I assumed that meant Stark and everyone involved, but who else could Barton have not told me about?

“It’s what we call ourselves. We’re sort of like a team. ‘Earth’s mightiest heroes’-type thing,” Stark explained as he poured himself a drink.

“Yes, I’ve met them,” I reminded. 

“Yeah,” Stark scoffed. “It takes us a while to get any traction, I’ll give you that one. But let’s do a headcount here: your brother, the One of Thunder.” So Thor did survive. I wasn’t sure if I should be glad or disappointed. “A super soldier, a living legend that kind of lives up to the legend. A man with breathtaking anger-management issues.” I looked back at Stark as he listed each member of his team. His descriptions were simplistic, and yet nothing could be more accurate. “A couple of master assassins, and you, big fella have managed to piss off every single one of them.”

I nodded as Stark took a sip from his drink. “That was the plan.”

“Not a great plan,” he said, coming out from behind the bar. “When they come--and they will--they’ll come for you.”

“I have an army.”

“We have a Hulk.”

“I thought the beast had wandered off.”

“You’re missing the point,” Stark said, taking step after step closer to me. “There is no throne. There’s no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes, and maybe it’s too much for us, but it’s all on you. Because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be sure we’ll avenge it.”

Stark took another sip of his drink as I approached him, gripping the Scepter. The Avengers can’t “avenge” anything if they’re torn apart. “How will your friends have time for me, when they’re so busy fighting you?”

The Scepter’s power surged as I raised it. Stark’s expression filled with fear as I touched the sharp tip to his chest. The metal clanged against his Arc Reactor and the blue glow of the Stone diminished, retracting back into the Scepter.

That wasn’t right. I tapped Stark’s chest with the Scepter again, forcing power from the Gem to go into him, but again, it was neutralised by his Reactor. “This usually works.”

“Well, performance issues, you know. Not uncommon,” he mockingly sympathised. “One out of five--”

I grabbed his neck and threw him to the floor. His commentary might have been entertaining before, but now he's pushed the limits of my patience. 

“Jarvis,” he muttered, “any time now.”

As Stark strained to get up, I grabbed him by the throat and pulled him the rest of the way to his feet, preventing him from saying anything further. “You will all fall before me,” I growled.

“Deploy!” Stark strained.

Whatever he was deploying wouldn’t make it to him. I lifted Stark by the neck and threw him towards the window. The glass shattered instantly, and Stark plummeted to the Earth.

The sound of an engine firing up made me turn. A red casing blasted out of an opening door and rapidly closed in on me. I ducked, managing to dodge it, and I raced to the broken window, watching it descend towards Stark. The casing expanded as I watched, laying itself over Stark. A metal suit formed around him, and he pulled up, rocketing back towards me.

“And there’s one other person you pissed off,” he announced as he came to be level with me. “His name was Phil.”

I raised the Scepter, readying a blast, but Stark raised his arms and delivered a golden beam towards me before I could fire. The hot energy of the blast hit me so hard in the chest that it threw me back several feet. The Scepter slipped from my grasp, so I felt the pain of it all the more.

As I laid catching my breath, straining to reach the Scepter, the deafening sound of hundreds of engines filled the air, accompanied by explosions.  My fingertips grazed the end of the Scepter, and the weakness instantly vanished, the power of the Gem rushing back into me. With renewed strength, I grasped the Scepter and got to my feet. I walked up the ramp that had removed Stark’s suit earlier, and summoned my Asgardian armour as I went. I stood on the extending landing platform and watched around me.

The Chitauri flew around the humans as they ran, swarming above them like insects. My army delivered blast after blast, cutting down everything in their path, buildings caught fire, and explosions ripped the streets apart.

The war that would win me both the Earth and the Scepter had finally begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for the pandemic right now, my mom (a fellow nerd, thank goodness) and I are having an all Marvel movie marathon and watching them in chronological order. She's a fan, but not super into it like us weirdo nerds who write/read fanfics, so I have to answer a LOT of questions. I am trying SO hard to convince her that Loki is under mind control in the first Avengers film, but she is actively refusing to believe me. Any ideas?


	11. Chapter 11

The Scepter’s power swelled, confirming everything. This war, these screaming people. This was right. I would get what I wanted. Thor and Odin would both finally respect me.

The image of the Other flashed through my mind, and I let my eyes close for a moment as he stared at me from under his black hood. “My time has come,” I told him.

He was silent for a moment before growling, “Resistance?”

I opened my eyes again and watched Stark fly through the swarm of Chitauri, blasting every one of them he could. His efforts hardly made a dent in the army pouring through the portal. “From a few,” I answered. “We’ll pick them apart.”

“And the rest?”

The remaining members of the Avengers would make their appearance sooner or later. “Mow them down.”

The Other smirked, baring his sharpened teeth.

“Loki!” someone called pushing the image of the Other away.  I turned towards the sound and discovered Thor standing on the terrace in his full armour--bright red cape and all.  “Turn off the Tesseract or I will destroy it!” he threatened, gesturing up towards where the Tesseract rested, generating the portal.

“You can’t,” I said, taking aim on him with the Scepter. “There is no stopping it. There is only the war.”

“So be it,” Thor muttered.

I jumped down from the landing platform, bringing the Scepter’s blade down towards his neck. Thor stepped back and swung at me with his Hammer. I blocked with the Scepter and pushed him back.  Thor stumbled, and I took the opportunity to swing at him with the blade again. Thor leaned back and dodged, but I spun around and delivering a blast of energy towards him. He brought Miljoner up and blocked the energy, rushing towards me.

We both brought our weapons towards each other and somehow met in the middle, Thor’s strength winning over mine. He forced the Scepter down as I tried to deliver another energy blast towards him, but instead, I violently removed the “K” from Stark’s name hanging off of the side of the Tower.

Thor and I swung back and forth, both of us blocking and delivering more hits on each other, but none landed. It seemed that Thor and I were evenly matched when I had the Scepter. All the more reason to win the Earth, the Gems and the Scepter.  Thor suddenly brought up his hammer and brought it careening towards my head. I leaned back, the air from his swing washing over my skin. I righted myself and quickly grabbed the back of his neck before he could swing at me again. I rammed his head through the glass barrier of the terrace, shattering it.  Thor got back up and struggled against me, but I had the better angle. 

One of SHIELD’s jets glided into view and hovered above us, the large gun on its belly aimed towards me. I used the angle I had on Thor to my advantage and threw him several feet away. I took aim on the jet with the Scepter, recognising Barton and Romanoff in the cockpit. The bright, blue blast tore itself from the Scepter and connected with one of the engines, making it catch fire instantly. 

The jet spiraled away, but a roar behind me quickly took my attention. Before I could move, Thor was on top of me, shoving me away from the precipice. He got in front of me and bombarded me with punch after punch. I blocked with my gauntlets, but I didn’t know how long I could keep it up. I was already weakening even with the Scepter.

A loud, guttural growl resonated through the air, and Thor and I both froze as one of the Chitauri’s armoured animals glided through the portal. More and more Chitauri jumped from the animal as it flew passed, invading the buildings while the animal leveled them.

Thor grasped my shoulder and placed his Hammer on my chest. “Look at this!” he shouted. “Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?”

Black spots appeared in my vision, and I blinked rapidly to get them to disappear. The moment they did, everything looked different. Clearer somehow. I saw the destruction as it was, and for the first time since I had acquired the scepter, something about this felt wrong. 

This wasn’t right.

I looked back at Thor and found fear and worry in his eyes. He wanted to help me, but it didn’t matter what he did. “It’s too late,” I said. The pained screams of the people below drew my gaze again. The Chitauri continued to pour from the portal in the sky. “It’s too late to stop it.”

“No. We can,” Thor denied, shaking me slightly in his panic. “Together.”

He wanted to help me. I needed his help. There was something wrong. 

But they can hear me. The Other can hear me as long as I’m connected to the scepter. He wants to help me, but I can’t accept it.

The black spots reappeared in my vision, and when they cleared, the screams of the humans went almost entirely silent. Thor was just trying to stop me from ruling these primitive people.

I concentrated on my magic and summoned one of my push daggers. Once it was in my hand, I thrust the blade through a weak part in Thor’s armour. He groaned and dropped Miljoner, grabbing for the dagger that remained in his side. I shoved him away, and he stumbled.  “Sentiment,” I muttered, though whether it was towards him or myself, I couldn’t tell.

Thor suddenly rushed at me and impacted me so hard that the Scepter slipped from my grasp. He grabbed my arms and lifted me over his head, slamming me down onto the floor. The air instantly left my lungs, and I cried out as my entire body ached.

I spotted the Scepter resting on the terrace, surrounded by broken glass. Thor was standing over me, so if I went for it, he would do much worse to me.

The hum of a Chitauri engine quickly drew close, becoming louder and louder. I rolled through the glass and dropped off the edge of the terrace. The small assault ship swept up and caught me. I reached for the controls in front of me to regain my balance as I flew, leaving Thor far behind. Several other Chitauri gathered behind me and protected my back as we glided over the humans.

A sharp pain in my head surprised me. I cried out and shut my eyes against the pain, the Other’s image forming in front of me. I snapped my eyes open, and tried to concentrate on where I was flying, but it was exceptionally difficult with the Other in my mind.

“This is a  _ little _ resistance?” he seethed.

“Your force lacks…” I scrambled to come up with something to make up for the fact that the humans weren’t destroyed yet, “finesse.” 

“Our warriors are fearless. They welcome a glorious death,” the Other refuted.

I shook my head, watching a Chitauri warrior dive towards the ground where groups of humans waited with guns. “That may actually be the problem,” I said.

“Then lead them, king!” the Other shouted. “You wield the Scepter, do you not?”

I gasped as the Other abruptly left me. “The Scepter,” I breathed.

I glanced around the ground for it, my heart hammering in my chest. How could I leave it?  It was back at Stark Tower. I dropped it there, but I couldn’t go back to get it. Thor could still be there with the Avengers to guard it.

I guided the small Chitauri speeder through the collapsing buildings, the warriors behind me sending down a spray of laser fire. A bright, red and blue streak flashed by underneath me. Stephen Rogers. Things were too complicated now.

The sky darkened for briefly before being lit again by a bright burst of lightning. I glanced back towards its source and found multiple bolts of lightning connecting with the top of Stark Tower.  Thor was trying to break through to the Tesseract, but eventually, a silhouette with a red cape extracted itself from the light and sent electricity streaming towards somewhere else.

At least the Tesseract was unguarded now. I could go back and retrieve the Scepter.

I turned the speeder around and flew as fast as it could take me back towards Stark Tower. I slowed to a hover as a howl sounded throughout the entire city. I glanced down and found the Chitauri’s animal lying on its back next to the Avengers, its armour cracked and scattered with bone and blood spread over the road. 

I growled in frustration. Why couldn’t I just have the Scepter and these Avengers leave me be? 

I glanced up towards the portal and closed my eyes, using the limited power of the Scepter that was still within me to contact the Chitauri military leaders waiting beyond the portal. “Send the rest,” I ordered.

Hundreds more of the armoured Chitauri war animals glided through the portal and descending upon the already broken city.  I watched as the green and ape-like Hulk pounced onto buildings, smashing Chitauri and their speeders. The sky darkened as Thor drew lightning from the clouds, throwing it towards the armoured animals.

“And change in plan. Focus on those protecting the city,” I instructed before releasing the Scepter’s power, suddenly exhausted.

A bright flash drew my attention, and I found a bolt of lighting streaming towards Thor and the raised Miljoner. Thor looked towards me and took aim on me with the Hammer. I pushed the speeder forward, flying as far away from Thor as I could. The lightning chased me, but I dove downwards, making it miss me by inches and strike a building.

My objective now was to protect the Tesseract, and prevent the Avengers from finding away passed its kinnetik shield. The Avengers would tire eventually, and their exhaustion would kill them.

I circled Stark Tower and the buildings around it, waiting for one of them to come for it. One of the Chitauri speeders jerked from left to right in a wild flight pattern. In a sudden turn, I recognised Agent Romanoff as she jumped onto the pilot, controlling his flight.

I pushed the speeder faster, catching up to her. I quickly found the firing mechanism on the speeder’s controls and sent a spray of lasers towards her, but her flight pattern was so random that she easily dodged.  Romanoff glanced back towards me before looking forward again. “Hawkeye!” I heard her shout, though the rest of her words were lost in the sound of destruction.

The most logical place for Barton would be up top providing cover fire and containment with his bow. She was leading me towards his position, though that didn’t matter as long as I kept her away from the Tesseract.

I caught Barton’s brief reflection in the window of a passing building. He would fire any second. I listened for the whistling of his arrow and put my hand out, catching its shaft before the tip could pierce my skull. I looked down at the silver arrowhead and glanced back towards Barton as he shrunk in the distance.  He knew what I could do better than the rest of the Avengers. Was this the best he could come up with?

The arrowhead beeped, and a fiery explosion threw me from the speeder. I landed hard on the stone of Stark’s terrace, my horned helmet clattering to the ground. 

My vision warped again, and that terrible feeling that this was wrong creeped up on me again. I forced myself up and watched as Romanoff landed on near the Tesseract. 

A loud roar made me jump, and the Hulk appeared moments later. His large hand came towards me and pushed me through the remaining glass windows and into the wall of the parlour. I slid to the ground but didn’t allow myself a moment to breath.

The Hulk slammed his fists on the ground and charged towards me like a bull. I shoved myself up from the floor and shouted, “Enough!” The Hulk froze and stared at me. “You are, all of you, beneath me! I am a king, you dull creature! And I will not be bullied by--”

The Hulk snatched me up by the ankle and flung me to the floor again and again, throwing me into the stone floor so hard that it cracked and made a crater that formed around me.  I could only lay there and groan, processing the pain that racked my body.

The Hulk snorted, his heavy footfalls retreating. “Puny king.”

The world spun around me, and the uneasy feeling that this was wrong overtook me. 

The Scepter. I needed the Scepter, but I hurt too badly to retrieve it.


	12. Chapter 12

Why was I feeling that this war was so wrong when I felt that it was so right before it began? 

The Scepter could speak--to my mind, at least. Maybe it would tell me what was happening if I asked.

I let my eyes close and concentrated on the Scepter, asking it for energy, an explanation, something. It’s power thankfully surged through me, and an image of myself in full Asgardian armour appeared before me in my mind, the Scepter gripped in his hand, but there was something wrong with his eyes.

“What is happening to me?” I asked.

The Loki in front of me smirked, the Scepter glowing powerfully. “What do you think?”

I looked back through all that happened since I fell through the void. I had denied Thanos’s request to make him more powerful, but the moment the Scepter touched me, I started to change my mind.  “Am I cursed?” I gasped.

“Oh, yes,” the image of myself laughed.

This was meant to happen? I was meant to be trapped with this scepter and its power? Thanos didn’t want me. He wanted my abilities. He said so himself, but somehow, I had forgotten. He wanted me to be shoved down until the scepter’s powers overtook me completely. He would have a champion, and I would remain trapped inside of my own mind, unaware that I was trapped at all.

“So I was to be locked up here until you might have use of me?” I muttered, as the image of me slowly came closer.

Thanos, the Other, the scepter. They were controlling me all this time, and I didn’t notice. How could I have not noticed?

The other Loki put the scepter between us, its sharp tip centimeters from my chest. “Until I let you go, you are but words,” he growled, throwing my own words back at me.

Now that he was closer, I was able to finally see what was wrong with his eyes. They were blue.

“Why?” I asked.  There was no point to this. Thanos might need the Gems, but he didn’t have to put me through this to get them if he had the Chitauri under his thumb.

The version of me with the scepter took a few paces backwards, a dangerous smile on his lips. “You know why.”

“Tell me!” I roared, my entire being flaring with anger.

The Loki in front of me jumped and turned back around, staring at me as my eyes started to prickle with tears.

“Because of me, this beautiful world of green and blue--the world that Thor loved--is being destroyed,” I whispered.

The image of myself stared at me for a while. “Well, yes,” he stated simply.

The screaming people, Phil bleeding on the floor, Thor falling 30,000 feet in that glass cage. How could I have ever thought any of this was right?

“Can you wipe out that much red?” the Loki in front of me repeated.

“Well, it all makes sense now,” I growled, taking slow steps closer to myself. “No matter how much that scepter--”

“Enough!” Loki shouted, making me freeze, my chest tightening. “This is pathetic! You, a king, are govelling.”

“You-you’re the one who tossed me into this abyss,” I whispered. “Not Thor or Odin or even my letting go.”

“Either way.” He came closer to me. “Your history is now dripping with more red than Romanoff’s, and you think that saving yourself from me is going to change anything?”

“Thor,” I muttered, “I’m sorry.”

The possessed version of me I was talking to chuckled darkly. “He can’t exactly hear you, you know. He’s busy protecting this Midgardian city from a force  _ you _ sent to kill him. Not I.”

For a moment, I saw my brother fighting against one of the Chitauri’s armoured war animals. He threw lightning down onto it with Miljoner over and over again, but its metal shell didn’t even crack.

“Everyone on this planet will die due to  _ your _ actions,” Loki growled. “ _ Your _ choices. Not mine.  _ I _ only did as  _ you _ asked.”

I might be powerless against the scepter, but this is  _ my _ mind. The scepter was dropped on Stark’s terrace last I remembered.

“ _ You _ wanted me to take Barton and Selvig,” the scepter’s projection continued. “ _ You _ opened the portal and allowed the Chitauri to destroy this city, sending them directly after the only people who can effectively protect it--including your own brother.  _ You  _ wanted me to connect to your mind, though you weren’t prepared to face the consequences of such a request. Everything that is happening here? This is  _ your _ fault.”

I ducked down and swept my legs underneath the version of me that held the scepter. He groaned and sat up, but I jumped on him before he could rise. He lifted the scepter, bringing its blade towards me, but I grabbed its staff, blocking him.

“You’re not getting out of this,” he strained. “Everything you’ve done here will follow you back to Asgard.” I tried to wrench the scepter from his grasp, but his grip was just as strong as mine. “Odin already hated you,” he reminded, panting slightly. “But now, so will Thor, Frigga. Everyone.”

With a cry of ire, I finally tore the staff from his hands and rushed to my feet. I turned the blade to his chest and brought it down on him as hard as I could.  The blade punctured his armour, and he gasped, screaming in pain. I backed away as I watched the Loki before me try to pry the scepter’s blade out of his torso, but he quickly lost strength, blood pooling underneath him and dripping from his mouth.

The blue glow from the scepter’s Infinity Stone dimmed and faded to darkness, and I snapped my eyes open, finding the parlour in Stark Tower once again. I strained until I pulled myself free of the crater that the Hulk had slammed me into and crawled onto the stairs. 

Something was different as I looked at the world around me. Everything looked brighter somehow. Like an unnoticed fog had cleared.

The sound of a bowstring tightening got me to focus, and I turned to find the Avengers standing above me, each with a weapon pointed towards me. Romanoff held the scepter and was glaring at me as intensely as the others.

I looked to Stark--who had his helmet off--and muttered in a voice that sounded weak even to my own ears, “If it’s all the same to you,” I groaned as a sharp pain racked my whole body, “I’ll have that drink now.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so just that we're clear, I wrote this entire fic about two years before Endgame came out, so this scene of them capturing Loki is quite different that the canon version in Endgame.

“That’s enough, Brother,” Thor seethed, rushing towards me and pulling me up from the floor.

I cried out as he tugged on my sore arm. I wasn’t sure if I was feeling the Hulk’s beating or if everything I should have felt since I took hold of the scepter was crashing into me all at once.

Thor dragged me out of the parlour and back onto the terrace. He pointed his hammer towards the sky, and clouds gathered above us. Lightning came down towards the hammer, and I winced at the light and the sound. The electricity soon dissipated, and Thor was left holding a long chain and a muzzle that Asgardians used for prisoners who could use magic by speaking. He took my wrists and bound them with the chain before putting a hand on my shoulder and staring at me with an expression I couldn’t read. After a moment of what looked like hesitation, Thor lifted the muzzle, and I didn’t fight him as he secured it over my mouth. 

Now that I was bound, Barton lowered his bow and glared at me for a moment before marching up to me and punching me. “That was for the mind control.”

My cheek stung and throbbed with the rest of me, but I suppose I deserved the pain, now that I could see the destruction for what it was. I don’t know why I couldn’t before.

“Great,” Stark exclaimed. “Now for the Tesseract.”

Stark activated the flight capabilities of his scratched and dented suit and flew shakilly up to the Tesseract and Selvig’s machine. Selvig was up, and he helped Stark place the Tesseract in a silver case. Stark gripped the back of Selvig’s shirt and took the Tesseract, flying down unsteadily until he dropped onto his circular landing pad that gradually removed his broken suit as he moved down it. Selvig glared at me heatedly while Stark handed the Tesseract to Thor.

The Hulk gave off a roar as he shrunk down, changing back into Banner, his enlarged trousers were so loose that they instantly fell off. I looked in any other direction as he groaned.

“Woah!” Stark shouted. “Showing a little too much there, Banner!”

Some scrambling sounded and then Banner muttered, “Thanks. And sorry.”

I glanced back and found Banner standing awkwardly, huddled in a blanket.

“Let’s get you some clothes,” Stark suggested, dragging Banner away. They both returned moments later with Banner in a poor-looking, Midgardian outfit of a t-shirt and khakis.

“And now for shawarma,” Stark stated.

What in the Nine Realms was shawarma?

“Stark, I’m sure that--”

“Ah, ah, ah!” Stark shouted, holding up a finger to cut off Thor’s statement. “You promised that after we contained Reindeer Games here, that we could go for shawarma. And I nearly died. I deserve it.”

Thor rolled his eyes, though a smirk tugged at his lips. Rogers snorted as he strained to contain a laugh. Stark turned around and went towards a lift, and the others followed. Thor shoved me forward, and I winced at the sharp pain that coursed through me, not that anyone could hear. 

* * *

The Avengers guarded me as we walked through the streets and met Director Fury surrounded by other members of SHIELD, including Agent Hill.  “Excellent work securing the Tesseract,” Fury congratulated.

“Thanks. It’s not like we nearly died several times over or anything,” Stark muttered.

If Fury heard the comment, he didn't acknowledge it. “But I assume that you need the Cube to take Loki back to Asgard.”

“Yes, sir,” Thor answered. “And I’m afraid that you will not be getting it back anytime soon.”

“Take it,” Fury permissed, waving his hand. “I don’t want that thing touching my planet again.”

Hill nearly jumped. “Sir--”

“Thor left before we could catch him,” Fury interrupted, “taking Loki and the Tesseract with him.” Thor nodded in thanks. “Though we’d still like to keep Loki with us for a day. See what he has to say.” 

Thor glanced between Fury and I before shoving me forward. 

“Now let’s go before he changes his mind,” Stark ordered, taking off down the road. The rest of the Avengers followed. Thor gave me one last look before going with them.

Several SHIELD guards surrounded me and led me aboard the jet that waited behind Fury. They pushed me down into one of the seats and stared me down the entire flight. It wasn’t long before we landed in the same half-destroyed floating fortress that they kept me in before. They imprisoned me in a different area and removed the Asgardian muzzle from around my mouth. Fury stood staring at me through the thick, glass wall. “Why did you even come here?” he demanded, though I didn’t answer. 

Fury asked question after question as to why I was on Earth and what I was trying to do here, but I never answered. I didn’t have the energy to. All I wanted was to sleep and wait for Thor to come back and return me to Asgard. Odin would either imprison me for the rest of my life or have me executed for this, and there isn’t wasn’t a single chance that he would believe me if I told him what the scepter and Thanos have done. 

SHIELD kept me for the whole day. They brought me a meal, but I hardly touched it. When Thor, Selvig and the Avengers did come to take me, they looked much better. Most of their cuts had healed, and their clothes were changed, though purplish bruises coloured their skin. SHIELD opened the cell, and Thor resecured the Asgardian muzzle over my mouth. They brought me to another jet, and Thor shoved me down into one of the seats and sat next to me as Romanoff went to the cockpit and ignited the jet’s engine, taking us up into the sky. We flew for only a few minutes before she set us down and let the ramp drop, shutting off the engine again.

Thor pulled me from the jet and the others followed after. We walked through a scenic park until we came to a brick platform. Selvig picked up a glass cylinder with golden handles and Asgardian markings and opened a silver case, revealing the Tesseract. Banner took a pair of tongs and carefully lifted the Cube from its case while Selvig opened the glass cylinder. Banner slipped the Tesseract into the container, and Erick locked it. Thor walked up to Selvig and took the glass cylinder from him with a gentle smile.

Romanoff leaned closer to Barton and whispered something in his ear that made him smirk.

Thor walked back up to me and held out one of the golden handles of the glass cylinder. I had no choice but to take it, but I a dulled part of me was afraid of going back, of seeing Odin and Frigga again.

I took the handle, and Thor glanced around at his friends for what would likely be the last time. He twisted his handle, and the Tesseract’s glow brightened until it consumed us both, taking us up to Asgard.

The blue light of the Tesseract dissipated after a moment, and Thor let me go the instant it did. Guards rushed about me and dragged me through the palace and down to the dungeon. They threw me into a large cell and removed my chains and the muzzle. The guards left me alone, and gold-yellow shields appeared on the three open walls of the cell--my cell.

* * *

Guards and medical personnel came into my cell every now and then, checking me over and healing everything that had broken since I fell through the void. But mostly, they curbed my illnesses.  A few days after I was thrown into the cell, I caught some form of a cold. It got worse and worse until everything I ate came back up again. Every part of me ached, and I was always unbearably hot.

“I don’t understand it,” a high voice muttered. I inched closer to one of the golden walls of the cell and put my ear to it, straining to catch more of the conversation. “Everything I’m seeing from him says that he’s going through some form of withdrawal. It’s like he’s addicted to something.”

“Do you have any idea what?” a second voice wondered, and I easily recognised it as Thor. 

“No,” the woman he was speaking to answered. “Last time we had to look him over was after you took him, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three to Jotunheim about two years ago. He was normal then. There was nothing in his system that shouldn’t be. Did he take anything after that?”

“Not that I’m aware of.” There was a deep silence before Thor spoke again. “But I may have an idea.” Footsteps sounded, and Thor soon came into view. We stared at each other for a moment, his expression more guarded than I’ve ever seen it. “Loki,” he slowly addressed. “What exactly was in that scepter?”

He thought I was physically addicted to the power that the Mind Stone contained? Looking back over all that happened, that might be true, but I couldn’t let him know that. He couldn’t know how weak I was. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” I muttered.

“Loki. You must tell me what--”

“Why?” I interrupted. “So you can take it for Asgard?”

Thor tensed and breathed deeply before shaking his head and going back the way he came. 

SHIELD had the scepter and the Stone now. They would hide it from Thanos, sending him back where he started. No one should have the power of those Gems. They destroyed you from the inside out.


	14. Chapter 14

A few more days passed before the guards returned. They barged into the cell and took out long, thick chains with multiple manacles. I didn’t fight them as they bound me around the ankles, wrist and neck. They forced me forwards and placed a guard to my left and right as they held my chains and led me up the stairs on the left, taking me up to the main part of the palace. They led me through the halls until they brought me to the throne room where Odin was surely waiting.

“Loki,” a voice called from the edge of the room.

“Hello, Mother.” I turned as best as I was able to look at her. “Have I made you proud?” I mockingly questioned. She had always said that nothing I ever did could make her ashamed of me, that she was always as proud of me as anyone could be.

She took a deep breath before quietly asking, “Please, don’t make this worse.”

“Define worse.” I couldn’t make it any worse than I already have. 

“Enough!” Odin ordered, getting me to look up to him sitting on the throne. “I will speak to the prisoner alone.”

Prisoner. Not son. I never was--and never will be--his son.

My mother glanced at me before turning and walking off. I took a few more steps closer to Odin and gave him a mocking salute reminiscent of that he demanded from his troops whenever they addressed him. 

If it couldn’t get any worse, it was probably best to play it off. Try to convince Odin and others that what the scepter, Thanos and the Other made me do wasn’t a big deal. I had heard from the gossiping guards that the Avengers and SHIELD had contained the damage and rebuilt the city. There were only memories and few recordings of the Chitauri invasion. I forced myself to laugh and said, “I really don’t see what all the fuss is about.”

“Do you truly not feel the gravity of your crimes?” Odin asked. “Wherever you go there is war, ruin and death.”

“I went down to Midgard to rule the people of Earth as a benevolent king. Just like you,” I countered.  At the time, I hadn’t meant harm. I wanted to spite Thor and Odin, but I hadn’t planned on ruling through fear.

“We are not above them. We are born. We live. We die. Just as humans do,” Odin reminded. 

I shrugged. “Give or take five thousand years.”

“All this because Loki desires a throne,” Odin muttered.

“It is my birthright.”

“Your birthright,” he leaned forward in his throne, “was to die! As a child.”

What? He said he found me, but he never said I was condemned.

“Cast out onto a frozen rock,” he continued. “If I had not taken you in, you would not be here, now, to hate me.”

I took a few steps forward, cutting off whatever he was going to say next. I couldn’t hear any more. “If I’m for the axe than for mercy’s sake just swing it.” Odin stared at me, his expression a mixture of shock and anger. “It’s not that I don’t love our little talks, it’s just that...I don’t love them.”

I never again want to feel the way I did when I let go of the staff in Thor’s hand and fell. I think that’s the reason I gave into the scepter so easily. I’ve been fighting to keep myself from slipping back down into that darkness, but his words were slowly forcing me back down into it.

“Frigga is the only reason you’re still alive, and you will never see her again,” Odin pointed out. “You will spend the rest of your days in the dungeon.”

The guards pulled on my chains, taking me back a few steps, but I resisted them. “And what of Thor? You’ll make that witless oaf king while I rot in chains?”

“Thor must strive to undo the damage you have done, he will bring order to the Nine Realms and then yes. He will be king,” Odin answered.

The guards pulled me further along the hall and dragged me away. I was glad to be rid of Odin, but I didn’t want to go back to being alone. The guards forced me back down the stairs and into the dungeon. The gold-yellow walls reasserted themselves, and the guards left me alone again.

* * *

I didn’t know for sure how long had passed. I assumed that every three meals that were delivered was a day, so it must have been about a month. I quickly grew crushed by the space of the cell that seemed to get smaller by the day. I had paced the length of it more times than I can count. I watched the other prisoners through the filter of the magic containing walls, and they watched me through theirs. More and more prisoners from various worlds were marched in, and each and every one of them glared at me with suspicion. 

One day, the guards came in, and two of them to stared me down while the others delivered a large bed that they placed against the one stone wall of the cell. After that, they walked back out. One said that it was from my mother, and they went away, leaving me alone again. 

The bed brought some level of warmth to the hard cell, though it caused the others in the dungeon to glare at me with hatred rather than mistrust. I could sleep comfortably and it stopped reminding me of where Thanos and the Other kept me. 

But even with the bed, my sleep was always restless. I kept revisiting the destruction I had caused. I woke up in a hot sweat, the moment I killed the possessed, blue-eyed version of me that held the scepter playing over and over again in my mind. It wasn’t every day that one saw their own dead body, and the moment wouldn’t leave me. Frigga would send me gifts of better meals and books, tables with pencils and paper, but none of it could keep everything from my mind. 

I turned to my magic for distraction. I cast illusion after illusion, making the cell feel bigger than it really was. They lasted long enough to make me forget it all. Forget about the scepter and the dreams it gave me, the destruction of New York City and Thor’s desperate pleas for reason. Forget about my heart that was steadily sinking lower and lower.

* * *

The crowd roared as I ascended the stairs. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three bowed to me. I turned to face the people once I arrived at the top of the stage, and they cheered even louder. I put my hand out, and Miljoner flew towards me. I raised the Hammer, proving that I was the rightful ruler here, and the people grew impossibly louder.

“Loki,” a voice called. I turned to find Frigga standing with her arms crossed. “What are you doing?”

“I’m giving the people what they want,” I laughed.

“Does all this make you feel better?” she asked.

I sighed before turning to her again, the real world creeping in on me again. “It certainly doesn’t make me feel worse.”

Frigga took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Cast enough illusions, and you’ll risk forgetting what’s real,” she said quietly.

“Precisely,” I muttered, letting the illusion drop.  I wanted nothing more than to forget everything, to imagine--just for a moment--that everything was slightly better than normal.

Once the image and noise of the illusion faded, and the real world came back, I noticed a parade of people being marched down the prison hall, surrounded by guards. “Odin continues to bring me new friends,” I breathed. “How thoughtful.”

“The books I sent,” Frigga reminded, “do they not interest you?”

“Is that how I am to while away eternity? Reading?” I responded, feeling only half of the amusement the thick sarcasm in my words implied.

“I’ve done everything in my power to make you comfortable, Loki.”

“Have you?” I wondered, leaning over the table she sent me. “Does Odin share your concern?” Frigga raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Does Thor? It must be so inconvenient, them asking after me day and night.”

“You know full well that it is  _ your _ actions that brought you here,” she reprimanded.

“ _ My _ actions?” It was the scepter’s actions. It was Thanos and the Other’s actions. Not mine. I might have given in, but it was they who destroyed New York City. But still. No one could know. “I was merely giving truth to the lie I’ve been fed my entire life,” I sighed, turning my back to Frigga as I lied. She could always see through my illusions, whether they were done with magic or not. “That I was born to be a king.”

“A king?” Frigga wondered as I turned to face her. “A true king admits his faults. What of the lives you took on Earth?”

Please don’t remind me. “A mere handful compared to the number that Odin has taken himself,” I justified, pacing back towards the golden wall. 

“Your father--”

“He’s not my father!” I snapped, my entire being flaring with anger and frustration at the mention of him. 

Frigga froze and stared back at me. “Am I not your mother?”

Every part of me said that she was my mother and that I was her son. She taught me and looked after me, but that was all just another lie created by Odin. “You are not,” I muttered.

Frigga smiled gently and shook her head, giving off a small laugh. “Always so perceptive,” she said, coming closer to me, “about everyone but yourself.”

We looked at each other for a while, but it was time for her to go. Mother was the only one to ever visit me down here, and it always made this cold cell seem a little larger and a little warmer, but I couldn’t have any more of our talk.

Mother held her hands out and I shook my head, reaching for her out of habit, and my hand slid straight through the projection. Her form evaporated before my eyes, and I was left alone again. 

She might visit me down here every now and then, but even that was an illusion. We couldn’t ever touch. Though, we weren’t really seeing each other, it still made me feel better, distracting me just enough.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter! Thanks to all who read! Hope you enjoyed it!

With Mother gone, I dropped down onto the bed and grabbed an empty cup. I rolled onto my back and tossed it up into the air, catching it again and again. I had one more book left to read, but I wanted to save it for another month from now. Mother sent new books to me every few months, but I read through them almost as soon as they came. I used to pride myself on being a fast reader, but now that talent was a curse.

Muffled screaming reached me through the filter of the magic barrier. The cup landed in my hand once more as the lights in my cell flickered. I got up from the bed and approached the barrier, watching the inmates of the cell across from mine. The prisoners were banging on the barrier, screaming to be let out as one behind them shook rapidly, bluish-black blood dripping onto the floor.

A ring of black smoke pushed outward from the trembling prisoner and forced the others against the walls. They slid to the ground and didn’t get back up. The remaining prisoner groaned and wailed, his skin becoming lava. He fell to the floor and screamed, more and more black smoke filling his cell until it obscured him entirely.

Guards ran up as morphed prisoner picked up one of his cellmates that was consumed by the billowing black smoke. It forced him into the cell’s golden barrier until it stretched and whined. He then lifted a hand and struck the barrier. It dissipated instantly, and the smoke spilled into the hall, allowing me to finally see him clearly.  It reminded me of a Kursed from the stories I've heard about the Dark Elves, though that was impossible. The Dark Elves were destroyed by my--by Thor’s grandfather, Bor.

The Kursed stepped out, and the two guards ran up to it, swinging their swords. They each struck the Kursed, but the blades stuck in its armour, doing no harm. It wrapped its hands around the guard’s necks and lifted them up. Its hands glowed a fiery orange until he dropped them to the ground.  The Kursed looked around and knocked the guards’ swords out of his armour before stepping over them and continuing down the hall. The Kursed approached barrier after barrier, blowing each of them apart with one hit. The prisoners ran rampant, straining to get free of both the dungeon and the Kursed.

The being eventually came to my cell and walked up to the golden barrier. I smirked as it raised its fist. If he let me go, I would take him down, turning in all of the escaped prisoners. I might earn a little favour with Odin and a possible chance at seeing a real sun again.

But the Kursed grumbled before lowering its fist and backing away.

If it really was a Kursed, and it wasn’t going to let me win favour, perhaps it would let me take Odin down instead. “You might want to take the stairs to the left,” I recommended before the Kursed could join the fray of scrambling prisoners and fighting guards.  The Kursed turned to look at me, weighing its options before turning to the left and taking my suggestion.

As the fighting continued, I lowered myself onto the floor and picked up my last book. Reading something would shut out the noise of the battle enough so that I wouldn’t have a migraine tomorrow.

“It’s as if they resent being imprisoned!” someone shouted.

“There’s just no pleasing some creatures!” another returned.

Someone hit the golden barrier of my cell as I turned the page in the book.

A large thud sounded, almost making me jump. “Return to your cells, and no harm will come to you,” a voice commanded as the fighting quieted.

Hearing he sound of Thor’s voice again did make me jump. He hadn’t been to see me since a few days after I was first put in here. I hadn’t heard from him or seen him since then.

“Very well, you do not have my word!” Thor shouted, as the blaring sound of the fight resumed.

As Thor continued to shout, it got harder and harder to ignore the combat and continue reading. I groaned, threw the book down and got up from the floor. I looked through the golden barrier to the hall and spotted Thor as he threw a prisoner to the floor. He looked up to me and held my gaze.

Rumbling shook the foundation of the palace, and stones fell from the ceiling in the hall. The lights in my cell flickered once again, and the rumbling continued for several minutes. Its abrupt stop was just as jarring as it sudden start.  Muffled shouts and blaster fire came from above. Sounds of stone crumbling and shattering reached us, and with the prisoners’ riot mostly quelled and those who remained alive were being returned to their cells, the dungeon remained unharmed.

“The throne of Asgard is destroyed! To the king!” a guard yelled, taking several other armoured men with him as he ran up the steps.

The throne was destroyed? Either that Kursed was doing its job or something else was going on entirely.

Thor looked towards the guards as he reactivated the barrier around another prisoner’s cell and ran past without giving me a second glance.

The dungeon was silent other than the shaking and bangs from collapsing stone coming from upstairs. I paced the length of my cell for what seemed like hours until the muffled, rumbling sounds of chaos had silenced, though the quiet was more deafening than the destruction. 

Thor had run off into battle head first again, and I couldn’t stop him--not that he had ever listened to me when I had tried in the past. I couldn’t deny that, despite everything, it still made me nervous. I should be resentful towards him for locking me up, but I wasn’t.

I took a seat at the table with my last book and opened it up again, trying to silence my nerves with the story, but I couldn’t focus. I had to read each line twice to understand what it was saying.

“Loki,” someone called. I looked up from the book and found a guard standing in the hall, smears of blood on the breastplate of his dented armour. “There was a battle. The Dark Elves invaded Asgard, and a Kursed along with their leader, Malekith, cornered our Queen Frigga. The Queen was killed in the attack.” 

The guard and I stared at each other for a moment as I tried to process what he was saying. I nodded, and he bowed his head and walked off.  I gently placed the book down on the ottoman and got up from the chair, turning my back to the golden barrier. 

Frigga is dead. I told that Kursed how to get to her. It was my fault. I had blood on my hands already, but this was one I could never wash off.

I shouted in rage, and an uncontrolled wave of magic burst out of me, throwing everything against the walls of the cell.  I destroyed everything. My anger, fear and grief came out in every way possible. My magic shattered the furniture, and I ripped it into even more shards with my bare hands. Frigga, my Mother, gave it all to me. I didn't deserve any of it. I screamed and shouted, but my heart only seemed to get heavier. It hurt. My heart physically hurt. There was a thorn in it that dug into me deeper and deeper, and no matter what I did, it only got worse.

The last words I said to her.  _ You are not. _ The last words I ever spoke to her told her that she was not my mother. 

But she was my mother. I knew that with every fiber of my being, but my last words said that I didn’t love her. 

Hate boiled inside of me. Hate towards that Kursed, hate towards the Other, Thanos, the drug that resided in the scepter. But it was mostly directed towards myself. That scepter might have made me become the writhen version of myself that attacked New York City, but I had kept that version intact inside of this cell. The solitary confinement of the dungeon had kept me trapped not, just in the dungeon, but inside of myself. I killed the blue-eyed version of me that was possessed by the Mind Stone, but he was still inside of me, and he had only festered while I was alone in here. I lashed out at Mother, but she didn’t deserve it. She only ever tried to make me comfortable.

And I had hurt her, saying that she wasn’t my real mother. But she was. Nothing could change the fact that I had snapped at her. All I could do was scream and destroy the remaining things in my room.

Odin was right:  _ Everywhere I go there is war, ruin and death. _

I grew crushed by the weight of what I felt and slid to the floor with one last scream. My eyes prickled, but no one could see me cry. The other prisoners were already staring at me, though it’s not like they would care. The only person who ever truly cared was now dead. 

And it’s my fault.

I put up and illusion inside the cell that made the furniture look new again. I stood pacing the length of the cell in the illusion, looking like everything was fine, but behind the it, I let it all out. Hot tears leaked down my face and I sobbed for who knows how long. Time passed simultaneously slowly and quickly as I sat against the wall, letting everything go, though my heart seemed to only grow heavier.

I wish more than ever to be back at that moment when I let go of the staff in Thor’s hand. If Thanos and the other hadn’t found me, I would have died. Why did they have to find me? Why? Why couldn’t they just leave me to die?

Footsteps sounded in the hall, and my brother appeared moments later, dressed entirely in black. “Thor,” my duplicate harshly greeted as he walked up to my cell, his expression hard. “After all this time and now you come to visit me. Why?” My duplicate leaned down to be eye-level with him, but he didn’t react. “Have you come to gloat? To mock?” 

Why wouldn’t he leave? 

“Loki, enough,” he muttered. “No more illusions.”  He could tell? 

It didn't matter. I sighed as I let the illusion drop. It didn’t matter if he could tell or not. Nothing really did. He would see everything I had destroyed sooner or later.  “Now you see me, Brother,” I said from the floor.

Thor’s blank and hard expression didn’t falter, but he moved from the golden barrier in front of me to the one by my side.

“Did she suffer?” I asked, pleading for him to say no, despite what the truth might be. I didn’t want to have caused her anymore pain than I already had.

“I did not come here to share our grief,” Thor denied, massaging his wrist and glancing around. “Instead I offer you a chance of a far richer sacrament.”

Whatever it might be, it would be a distraction. Whether he planned to kill me or send me into battle, it would end this pain in my heart. “Go on,” I invited.

“I know you seek vengeance as much as I do,” Thor acknowledged. “You help me escape Asgard, and I will grant it to you. Vengeance. And afterward, this cell.”

He was planning on putting me back in here even after I help him, but escaping Asgard and fighting through all of the well trained guards offered an opportunity to end the pain. That was always viable option.  Though I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that he only came to see me because he needed something. “You must be truly desperate to come to me for help.” Thor rolled his eyes slightly and took a few steps away from the cell. “What makes you think you can trust me?” I called, getting him to turn back around.

“I don’t,” he muttered. “Mother did.”  I was already hurting, but the mention of her pushed the sharp thorn even deeper into my heart.  “But you should know that when we fought each other in the past,” he explained, walking back up to me, “I did so with a glimmer of hope that my brother was still in there somewhere. That hope no longer exists to protect you. You betray me, and I will kill you.”

I stared at him for a moment. He promised to kill me if I hurt him again. No one was left who cared for me. No one would miss me or cry over the fact that I’ll be gone. 

I leaned forward. “When do we start?”


End file.
